Speaker Ryan Officially Sends Young's Agro-terrorism Prevention Bill to the White House

Press Release

Today, Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Paul Ryan officially signed Iowa Congressman David Young's bill, the Securing our Agriculture and Food Act (H.R.1238), enrolling it which is the final legislative step needed to send the legislation to President Trump's desk.

The legislation, which elevates the nation's preparedness of our food, agriculture, and veterinary systems against terrorism and high-risk events, originally passed the U.S. House of Representatives in March. The U.S. Senate considered and passed the bill unanimously with a minor amendment on May 24th and the U.S. House voted Monday afternoon to send this legislation to President Trump to be enacted into law.

Congressman Young was joined in Speaker Ryan's U.S. Capitol Office by Congressman Dan Donovan, Chairman of the House Homeland Security's Subcommittee on Emergency Preparedness, Response, and Communications, and the Ranking Member of the Subcommittee Congressman Donald Payne, Jr. (D-NJ), who Young recruited as original cosponsors of the bipartisan bill.

"With Speaker Ryan's signature, the Securing our Agriculture and Food Act takes another vital step forward in protecting our food supply and agriculture industries in Iowa from high-risk events and agro-terrorism," Congressman Young said. "Chairman Donovan's and Ranking Member Payne's help was instrumental in getting this legislation across the finish line and is yet another example of the bipartisan work being done on behalf of Iowans."

First introduced in 2016 and then again in January of this year, Congressman Young's legislation addresses concerns brought to light after Iowa suffered the largest animal disease outbreak in state history, when the 2015 avian influenza outbreak wiped out millions of layer hens, turkeys, and backyard flocks. Response efforts revealed problematic breaks in the federal government's ability to communicate with stakeholders and react quickly to large-scale animal disease outbreaks. This disaster also raised concerns among farmers and producers about whether our nation would be able to capably share information and respond to agro-terrorism threats and attacks, ultimately an attack against our nation's citizens.

Young's Securing our Agriculture and Food Act takes the critical steps to protect America from high-risk events which pose serious threats to our food, agriculture, and livestock industries across the United States by requiring the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), through the Assistant Secretary for Health Affairs, to collaborate with the Department of Agriculture and Department of Health and Human Services, to ensure food, agriculture, and animal and human health sectors receive attention and are integrated into the DHS's domestic preparedness policy initiatives.

Source