Press Releases

Washington, D.C. – Today, the House Agriculture Livestock and Foreign Agriculture Subcommittee held a hearing to review the nation’s animal pest and disease prevention and response capabilities. After the hearing, Subcommittee Ranking Member David Rouzer (NC-7) and Committee Ranking Member K. Michael Conaway (TX-11) made the following remarks:

“The livestock industry faces pest and disease threats capable of devastating the rural economy and our nation’s food supply. Our best defense is a strong offense, which is why we took critical steps in the 2018 Farm Bill to provide USDA with the resources to better identify, diagnose and respond to a potential outbreak in our nation’s livestock sector. Today we heard about the broad authorities that USDA and state agencies have to address these threats, and it’s imperative that they efficiently and effectively build out the infrastructure network to best support pest and disease prevention and response activities,” said Subcommittee Ranking Member Rouzer.

“Strong food security directly impacts our national security. I’m incredibly proud of the work in the 2018 Farm Bill to ensure that USDA and state agencies have the tools to further develop the critical animal health infrastructure to protect against emerging threats. This is something we’ve long highlighted before the committee and we intend to closely monitor USDA’s progress in implementing these important programs,” said Ranking Member Conaway.