July 26, 2018

U.S. Senate
Washington, DC 20510

Dear Senator,

You will soon consider H.R. 6147, the Interior, Environment, Financial Services, and General Government Appropriations Act, 2019. On behalf of the more than one million members and supporters of the Council for Citizens Against Government Waste (CCAGW), I urge you to support Sen. Jeff Flake’s (R-Ariz.) amendment to eliminate the United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) catfish inspection program.

The USDA catfish inspection program costs taxpayers $14 million annually. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) accomplishes the same mission, but at an annual cost of only $700,000. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) once said of the program, “unless catfish have suddenly sprouted legs, USDA should stick to meat, poultry, and egg inspections.” The USDA should not inspect catfish, especially at such a costly price.

Yet USDA and proponents of the agency’s duplicative program claim the “catfish office” is necessary because the USDA once identified a shipment of catfish that had chemical residue. However, the USDA failed to acknowledge that the shipment was discovered based on FDA’s targeting data.

The USDA catfish inspection program is a ridiculous waste of taxpayer money at a time when the federal government must tighten its belt. The elimination of this duplicative and unnecessary program should be an easy vote for fiscal conservatives. All votes on this amendment will be considered for CCAGW’s 2018 Congressional Ratings.

Sincerely,

Tom Schatz
President, CCAGW

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