The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“MORNING BUSINESS” mentioning the U.S. Dept of Agriculture was published in the Senate section on pages S19195-S19197 on Dec. 22, 1995.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
MORNING BUSINESS
Mr. REID. Mr. President, I am wondering if I could ask the indulgence of the Members of the Senate. I know how important this legislation is, but Senator Brown and I would ask unanimous consent that we be allowed to go to morning business for an extremely short period of time to introduce legislation. We will make our statements part of the Record.
So I ask unanimous consent that we be allowed to go to morning business.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
[[Page S19196]]
BOARD OF TEA EXPERTS
Mr. BROWN. Mr. President, I will be extremely brief.
Earlier this year, on the agricultural appropriations bill, Senator Reid and I offered legislation that would defund the Tea Tasting Board, and I offered an amendment that would eliminate the underlying legislation that passed in 1879.
Literally, we spend a quarter million dollars a year of taxpayers' money on tasting tea, a practice that is designed to restrict competition.
Tragically, when that measure got to conference, the conferees were advised that the Food and Drug Administration would lose their ability to stop poisonous substances coming into the country in the form of tea if we did not have a Tea Tasting Board. That information is incorrect. The advice they gave the conferees is incorrect.
So we intend to, at the appropriate point when the continuing resolution comes forward, to offer an amendment that does what the Senate did earlier, and that is eliminate the Tea Tasting Board.
Mr. President, it is important because this is a clear waste and a clear obstruction of competition in this country. It is a drag upon our efficiency, and it is the signpost of the kind of changes we need to make to get our country back on track.
That is the reason we think it is appropriate to offer it on the continuing resolution.
I yield to my distinguished colleague from Nevada.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Nevada.
Mr. REID. Mr. President, 2 years ago I stood on this floor and offered an amendment to the 1993 Agriculture Appropriations bill.
My efforts were successful and the measure passed. The intent of my measure was to eliminate the Board of Tea Experts. To my chagrin, in recent months I discovered that the tea experts were still in business. In mid-September of this year I returned to the floor with Senator Brown to once again eliminate the Tea Board and abolish the Tea Import Act. Well, here we are again. Why?, because it seems that the Agriculture appropriation conferees did not see their way clear and abolish the act.
That is why Senator Brown and I have returned to the floor to offer this amendment calling for an end to the Tea Importation Act. Why, I have been told that the Department of Agriculture informed the conference committee that the act was needed to ensure safe, healthy tea. What this program has is somewhat akin to the fictional creature, Count Dracula. I have come here with Senator Brown to once again attempt to rid this Government of this scourge. I ask unanimous consent to have printed in the Record this article from the December 15 business section of the Washington Post that clearly outlines this problem.
There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in the Record, as follows:
(From the Washington Post, Feb. 15, 1995)
The FDA's Tea Party Lives On. And On. And On.
(By Cindy Skrzycki)
The tempest in the teapot still brews. Despite the efforts of Sens. Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) and Hank Brown (R-Colo.) to dump a government-sponsored tea-tasting program, last-minute lobbying and legislative maneuvering has kept the Food and Drug Administration in the business of fine tea and good china.
Just when it looked like the FDA could wash its hands of the 98-year-old Tea Importation Act and its Board of Tea Experts, Sen. Thad Cochran (R-Miss.), chairman of the Senate Agriculture Appropriations Committee, quietly decided to kill the part of the Reid-Brown amendment that would have cut FDA's involvement with the board.
The result is that the FDA, long-criticized for its tea-tasting sessions, actually may have a more complicated role to play as it figures out how to comply with the part of the amendment that did pass.
As things now stand, the Tea Importation Act--which charges the FDA with making sure imported tea meets a government-endorsed standard of quality and purity--remains in force. What changes is the FDA's involvement in setting the standard since an FDA employee will no longer be allowed to sit on the six-member Board of Tea Experts.
The problem is, the agency still has to figure out a way to come up with the annual tea standard--without being involved--so that its longtime employee (a man reknowned for distinguishing fine tea from foul brews) can carry out the day-to-day tasting of imported tea, making sure it meets the standard.
Complicated? Yes, But, hey, this is the government.
So much for victory proclamation that Reid and Brown happily offered in September when the Senate passed their amendment. The conference on the legislation--and the lobbying--wiped out Reid's wish ``to end this tea party.''
The tea leaves aren't clear on this, but the brew's lobby apparently did a good job of preserving FDA's tea-tasting role. The industry has maintained through numerous attempts to abolish the board that it was necessary to have the
$200,000 government program to keep bad tea out of the country.
Congress not long ago eliminated the board's modest travel subsidies for its annual meeting at FDA offices in New York. It also raised the tax on imported tea to pay for the salaries of the FDA employees involved in setting the standard and tasting the tea to make sure imports adhered to the standard.
The current standard expires May 1, so the FDA has to come up with a way to set a new measure. Like any good government agency, it has convened a ``small working group'' to figure this out.
Among the options the group is considering: disallowing tea imports altogether, maintaining the current standard indefinitely, turning the standard-setting over to some other department within the Department of Health and Human Services. Or, the more likely scenario, proposing a standard in the Federal Register and asking for comments on it.
``You've now finding out what perpetual life is,'' said Brown. ``It's such a disgrace.''
Anyone for tea?
Mr. REID. Mr. President, we do not have a coffee tasting board, why a tea testing board?
According to an FDA spokesman this Congress is sending mixed signals regarding tea tasting.
According to an FDA spokesman ``the law doesn't say we should not have a tea taster at FDA.''
According to an article in the Review-Journal, the largest newspaper in Nevada, the Board of Tea Experts is funded by the tea industry. However, its members work closely with FDA chemist Robert H. Dick to set standards for imported tea.
Mr. Dick who has chaired the tea board for 56 years, is paid $68,000 per year. He also has two part-time assistants, all of whom are taxpayer supported.
Mr. President, the Food and Drug Administration, as well as the Agriculture Appropriations Committee, has done a diservice to the American people. It is no wonder the American people have lost faith in their government. I see no reason why those in this country who enjoy drinking tea need someone else to tell them it tastes good. Once again I am back on the floor to complete the task that I originally set out to do.
Mr. President, once again let me give the Senate some background on the Board of Tea Experts.
The Tea Expert Board was created as part of the Tea Import Act of 1897. You heard me correctly, 1897, not 1987.
There are six outside experts and one from the Food and Drug Administration [FDA] that comprise the Board. It is the Board of Tea Experts duty to set standards for imported tea. There is also others at the FDA that also as part of their official duties, taste tea.
The cost of this program is approximately $200,000 per year; even though there is an industry offset of approximately $70,000 per year.
Although, the fiscal year 1996 Agriculture appropriations bill withholds funds to operate the Board of Tea Experts, it does not repeal the act as the Senate unanimously agreed to do. Even so, the adventures of the Board of Tea Experts still cost the American taxpayer over
$130,000 per year. That may not seem like much, but it is the kind of waste that taxpayers detest.
We do not have a board of coffee experts, why then, do we need a Board of Tea Experts. The Board of Tea Experts only serves industry. Let the industry serve itself, and pay for its own quality assurance out of its own pockets. It is not my intent to have the FDA to stop testing imported agricultural products. These activities can continue without the Board of Tea Experts and without Mr. Dicks or the FDA's involvement.
As I have stated on the floor before, What we need is a congressional tea party. We must dump the Board of Tea Experts as well as the Tea Importation Act overboard.
It seems inappropriate, and some might say morally reprehensible, to expend money from the Treasury for such a program.
How can this reform minded Congress allow the Tea Importation Act to continue?
Mr. LOTT addressed the Chair.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Mississippi.
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