[Senate Hearing 109-455]
[From the U.S. Government Printing Office]
S. Hrg. 109-455
NOMINATION HEARING OF RICHARD RAYMOND TO BE UNDER SECRETARY FOR FOOD
SAFETY, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
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HEARING
before the
COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE,
NUTRITION, AND FORESTRY
UNITED STATES SENATE
ONE HUNDRED NINTH CONGRESS
FIRST SESSION
__________
JUNE 22, 2005
__________
Printed for the use of the
Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry
Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.agriculture.senate.gov
______
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COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE, NUTRITION, AND FORESTRY
SAXBY CHAMBLISS, Georgia, Chairman
RICHARD G. LUGAR, Indiana TOM HARKIN, Iowa
THAD COCHRAN, Mississippi PATRICK J. LEAHY, Vermont
MITCH McCONNELL, Kentucky KENT CONRAD, North Dakota
PAT ROBERTS, Kansas MAX BAUCUS, Montana
JAMES M. TALENT, Missouri BLANCHE L. LINCOLN, Arkansas
CRAIG THOMAS, Wyoming DEBBIE A. STABENOW, Michigan
RICK SANTORUM, Pennsylvania E. BENJAMIN NELSON, Nebraska
NORM COLEMAN, Minnesota MARK DAYTON, Minnesota
MICHEAL D. CRAPO, Idaho KEN SALAZAR, Colorado
CHARLES E. GRASSLEY, Iowa
Martha Scott Poindexter, Majority Staff Director
David L. Johnson, Majority Chief Counsel
Steven Meeks, Majority Legislative Director
Robert E. Sturm, Chief Clerk
Mark Halverson, Minority Staff Director
(ii)
C O N T E N T S
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Page
Hearing(s):
Nomination Hearing of Richard Raymond to be Under Secretary for
Food Safety, Department of Agriculture......................... 01
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Wednesday June 22, 2005
STATEMENTS PRESENTED BY SENATORS
Chambliss, Hon. Saxby, a U.S. Senator from Georgia, Chairman,
Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry.............. 01
Hagel, Hon. Chuck, a U.S. Senator from Nebraska.................. 02
Nelson, Hon. Ben, a U.S. Senator from Nebraska................... 07
Salazar, Hon. Ken, a U.S. Senator from Colorado.................. 09
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WITNESSES
Raymond, Richard, M.D., of Nebraska, to be Under Secretary for
Food Safety, U.S. Department of Agriculture.................... 03
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APPENDIX
Prepared Statements:
Harkin, Hon. Tom............................................. 12
Nelson, Hon. Ben............................................. 13
Raymond, M.D. Richard........................................ 16
Document(s) Submitted for the Record:
Raymond, M.D. Richard (Biographical Information)............. 20
Questions and Answers Submitted for the Record:
Harkin, Hon. Tom............................................. 50
Grassley, Hon. Charles E..................................... 72
NOMINATIONS
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WEDNESDAY, JUNE 22, 2005
U.S. Senate,
Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry,
Washington, DC.
The committee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:10 a.m., in
room SR-328A, Russell Senate Office Building, Hon. Saxby
Chambliss, chairman of the committee, presiding.
Present or Submitting a Statement: Senators Chambliss,
Grassley, Nelson and Salazar.
STATEMENT OF HON. SAXBY CHAMBLISS, A U.S. SENATOR FROM GEORGIA,
CHAIRMAN, COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE, NUTRITION, AND FORESTRY
The Chairman. Good morning. We are pleased to be here today
to consider the nomination of Dr. Richard Raymond to be the
Under Secretary of Agriculture for Food Safety. Dr. Raymond
currently serves as the Director of the Nebraska Department of
Health and Human Services Regulation and Licensure.
As Director of Regulation and Licensure, he oversees
regulatory programs involving health care and environmental
issues that affect public health. He was appointed to the
Regulation and Licensure Director position by then-Governor
Mike Johanns on October 26, 2004.
While I apologize for being late, I have been sitting with
the former Governor Nebraska in my office for the last few
minutes discussing some agricultural issues, Dr. Raymond.
Since January 1999, Dr. Raymond has also been serving as
Nebraska's Chief Medical Officer, overseeing public health
programs, including disease prevention, health promotion and
preparedness planning. Dr. Raymond is currently President of
the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials and
has served on the Association's Preparedness Committee and Food
Safety Committee for 3 years.
He is a lifelong Nebraska resident who practiced medicine
in rural Nebraska for 17 years. Dr. Raymond also established
and directed a community-based family practice residency for
Clarkson Medical Center for 10 years. Dr. Raymond is joined
today by his wife, Jane, and by Marlene Goroff, a family
friend.
We are also pleased that Senator Hagel, who is my good
friend, is with us today to introduce Dr. Raymond to the
committee.
Senator Hagel, welcome to the Ag Committee and we look
forward to your introduction.
[The prepared statement of Senator Tom Harkin can be found
in the appendix on page 12.]
STATEMENT OF HON. CHUCK HAGEL, A U.S. SENATOR FROM NEBRASKA
Senator Hagel. Mr. Chairman, thank you. It is always a
privilege to be with you, and especially in these hallowed
halls of glory and power in the Senate Agriculture Committee
room. So I know I am not worthy, but nonetheless you have
allowed me a reprieve and a visa for 1 hour.
The Chairman. You will get an extra bag of peanuts for
those comments.
[Laughter.]
Senator Hagel. Thank you, sir. Georgia peanuts.
The Chairman. That is right.
Senator Hagel. Mr. Chairman, I am pleased and very proud
this morning to be here to introduce this committee to a very
distinguished Nebraskan.
The United States food supply, as we all know, is the
safest in the world. It is critical that the U.S. continue that
standard and remain on the cutting edge of food safety. Strong
leadership and innovative thinking is essential to that goal. I
believe the President's nominee to be the next Under Secretary
of Agriculture for Food Safety fulfills those requirements.
Mr. Chairman, I am very, very proud to introduce to this
committee the individual the President believes is best
qualified to provide that leadership, Dr. Richard Raymond. His
humble upbringing in Loup City, Nebraska, and passion for
public service gave him the foundation to become one of our
Nations' most knowledgeable and hard-working public health
professionals.
Over the last 6 years, Dr. Raymond has served as the Chief
Medical Officer for the Nebraska Health and Human Services
System, as you have noted. His innovation and efforts have been
instrumental in crafting Nebraska's nationally recognized
public health system.
Dr. Raymond and I have worked closely together on
initiatives to enhance and expand public health care in
Nebraska and the public health workforce in rural America. I am
confident that his leadership, experience and depth of
knowledge will maintain and strengthen U.S. food safety
standards. President Bush and Secretary Johanns could not have
picked a more respected professional for this job.
I might note on a personal level, Mr. Chairman, that Dr.
Raymond was telling me, not unlike so many dynamics in America,
that his father once worked for the USDA in 1942, then enlisted
in the Army to serve in World War II, and that may have well
been an early seed, a seedling, a Raymond seedling, for a
future distinguished senior public official in the United
States Department of Agriculture.
So again, Mr. Chairman, thank you for allowing me the
privilege to be here this morning to introduce Dr. Raymond, and
I am confident that he will serve with great distinction and
honor.
Thank you.
The Chairman. Senator, thank you very much for being here.
Dr. Raymond, I will tell you, you couldn't have a better
person to bring with you to introduce you to this committee
than my good friend, Chuck Hagel.
Senator Hagel. Thank you. Now, he is on his own.
The Chairman. You don't want to be under oath with him. Is
that what you are telling us?
Senator Hagel. I get nervous under oath.
[Laughter.]
Senator Hagel. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
The Chairman. Dr. Raymond, we welcome you. As I am required
to do, I will ask you to stand and raise your right hand,
please.
Do you swear that the testimony you are about to give
before this committee shall be the truth, the whole truth and
nothing but the truth, so help you God?
Dr. Raymond. I do.
The Chairman. Do you agree that, if confirmed, you will
appear before any duly constituted committee of Congress if
asked?
Dr. Raymond. I do.
The Chairman. Thank you very much and we look forward to
your comments.
STATEMENT OF RICHARD RAYMOND, M.D., OF NEBRASKA, TO BE UNDER
SECRETARY FOR FOOD SAFETY, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Dr. Raymond. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, Senator
Harkin and other distinguished members of the committee who
will review this testimony, I am grateful for the opportunity
to appear before you this morning as President Bush's nominee
for Under Secretary for Food Safety at the United States
Department of Agriculture. I want to thank the President and
Secretary Johanns for their support and trust in nominating me
for this important position. I also want to thank Senator Hagel
for taking time from his busy schedule and for his kind
introduction.
For the record, I am Richard Raymond from the State of
Nebraska, and I am very humbled, and at the same time very
honored to have been nominated to serve our Nation in this
capacity.
As you mentioned, with me today is my wife, Jane, to whom I
have been married for 35 years, and she is accompanied by her
best friend from her high school days, Marlene Goroff, who was
also her bridesmaid at our wedding 35 years ago.
Our children would like to have been here today, but work
obligations did not allow that. We have a son who lives in
Kansas City, Kansas, and a daughter who lives in Fort Collins,
Colorado.
All of Jane's and my grandparents were Nebraska farmers and
all of our parents grew up on Nebraska farms. As Senator Hagel
mentioned, I think it is very interesting that my father's
first W-2 form when he came off of the farm was with the then-
Farm Security Administration, a branch of USDA at that time.
I grew up in the small rural town of Loup City, a town of
1,400 people. In a town of that size, in the summertime you
work on farms, and you work on farms on the weekends as the
only source of income. My wife grew up in Wilber, another
Nebraska town, a community of about 1,400. I went to college in
Hastings, Nebraska, attended medical school at the University
of Nebraska Medical Center, and then did a rotating internship
in Spokane, Washington.
Because of the appreciation and the value that Jane I have
for living in small, rural areas and rural communities, we did
return to Nebraska to practice family medicine and to raise our
family in the O'Neill, Nebraska, area, a rural community area
with a population of about 4,400 people.
My interest in public service and public health is deeply
rooted in the community of O'Neill, and also in the small town
of Loup City and the people I have served as a medical
physician for over 30 years. As a family doctor in a rural
community, I was the key public health official to my friends,
my neighbors and my family.
Their trust was not only rewarding, but it sparked in me a
greater interest in public service and public health. After 17
years of rural practice, I was fortunate to have the
opportunity to establish and then direct a community-based
family practice residency program in Omaha, Nebraska. That
residency program had a goal of training young family
physicians in the needs and rewards of practicing in rural
communities, and we also prepared them to succeed in rural
practice, which is quite different than an urban practice.
My appointment in January 1999 as the Chief Medical Officer
for the Nebraska Health and Human Services System by then-
Governor Johanns presented me with the opportunity to further
extend the reach of public health. In the past, food safety
officials in the public health community have focused almost
entirely on preventing and responding to unintentional
contamination of the food supply.
But especially since September 11, 2001, we have come to
realize that public health must include defenses against forces
that would intentionally contaminate food, water and other of
our life necessities. Governor Johanns recognized this and
asked me to lead Nebraska's bioterrorism preparedness and
response planning. The Nebraska Health and Human Services
System has a staff of almost 6,000 people located in 100
locations throughout Nebraska and a budget of slightly under
$2.5 billion per year.
The Nebraska Public Health System under my leadership went
from only 20 counties with a health department to having newly
established multi-county public health departments that now
serve the citizens in all 93 counties of Nebraska to help us
meet the new reality and the threats that we are faced with.
If I am confirmed as Under Secretary for Food Safety, I
will use my past experience as a scientist, medical doctor,
educator and public health advocate and spokesperson to assure
that America's food supply continues to be the safest in the
world.
I applaud the recent progress and improvements that have
been made to our food safety system. I recognize this success
is because of the tremendous efforts of thousands of dedicated
public health professionals within the Food Safety and
Inspection Service at USDA, but I know we can and we must do
better.
I believe that by working with this team of public health
professionals and by cooperating, communicating and
collaborating with other internal and external stakeholders
that we can make additional strides in improving our food
supply.
Mr. Chairman, I assure you that if I am confirmed by the
committee and then by the U.S. Senate, I will work with you and
the members of this committee to earn your respect and your
support as we work together to make our food supply the safest
possible.
Thank you, and I look forward to trying to answer any
questions you may have.
The Chairman. Thank you very much, Dr. Raymond.
You have clearly had a distinguished career in rural
medicine, as well as in public health administration. Could you
share with the committee how you believe these and any other
experiences have specifically prepared you to lead the USDA
Food Safety Inspection Service?
Dr. Raymond. Mr. Chairman, I have come to believe strongly
in the principles of public health. Any time we are faced with
a problem and need a solution, I think we need to do a thorough
assessment, that we need to develop policy to address those
issues, and then we need to come back and do an assurance to
make sure that the policy is being met and that we have
improved the public's health and safety.
Having worked in a small State, population-wise, to prepare
us for any public health emergency, be it intentional or
unintentional, has required working with multiple individuals
from multiple walks of life, multiple advocates and multiple
associations to combine what could be viewed as a limited
personnel population to gather the expertise from everybody we
possibly could.
I think in Nebraska we have done a wonderful job of
building our preparedness efforts by using people internal and
external, and listening and responding and doing the
assessments.
The Chairman. Given your background as a local medical
practitioner and in rural public health programs, could you
characterize for the committee your own personal opinion of the
present safety of the U.S. food supply?
Dr. Raymond. Mr. Chairman, I believe the food supply safety
is the best it has ever been right now. That said, I also know,
as I said in my opening remarks, that we can also do better.
And I think anytime you can do better, then good is not good
enough.
The Chairman. I understand that one of your duties as the
Chief Medical Officer in Nebraska was to help direct the
bioterrorism preparedness efforts in your State related to
public health and food safety. In addition, I know that you
served on the Food Safety Committee for the Association of
State and Territorial Health Officials.
Would you explain to the committee in a little more detail
what your responsibilities and activities were in those two
areas?
Dr. Raymond. Certainly. Mr. Chairman, I would like to give
you an example of what we did in Nebraska. I don't remember the
exact date, but when we got the guidelines for the cooperative
agreement from the Centers for Disease Control and Protection
that said how the $1.1 billion was going to be distributed to
the States to build preparedness, Nebraska was informed that we
would get $8.5 million.
In the guidelines, there was a list of about 30 individuals
or associations that needed to be on the advisory committee to
help guide us on how we were going to spend those dollars to
better prepare Nebraska for bioterrorism possibilities.
I looked at that list that night. Things like the Red
Cross, the Office of Rural Health, EMS, hospitals
associations--they were all on there. But one large constituent
that was not on that list was agriculture, and the following
morning when I got to work, I called Merlin Carlson, who at
that time was the Director of Ag for Nebraska and told Merlin
we have $8.5 million to help prepare Nebraska for biological
attack, and I think that includes agro terrorism, Merlin.
He was in my office in 5 minutes with a cup of coffee and
we sat down and made a plan to include ag on our committee, and
we also continued to support ag financially from those grants
to run what is called the LEDRS Program in Nebraska.
The Chairman. Nebraska is a State that has a lot of
production of agricultural products both for feed use as well
as for human consumption. You also are one of the leading
livestock producers, as well as one of the leading packaging
and processing States in the country.
With the leadership that you have provided to the folks in
Nebraska, are you confident from the farm to the grocery store
there are mechanisms in place to detect any potential input of
bioterrorism agents in that food supply such that the people of
Nebraska and other parts of the country that buy those products
would be safe?
Dr. Raymond. Mr. Chairman, as I said earlier, I know we are
dramatically better than we were four or 5 years ago. That
doesn't mean we are where we need to be. When you look at the
rates of recalls, the rates of human illness from food
pathogens and the rates of positive sample testing of the
products being produced in America and you see those rates
going down dramatically over the last 4 years due to the work
of the Food Safety Inspection Service, that in itself says our
food is safer because what we do to protect our food from
accidental contamination also helps protect our food supply
chain from intentional contamination.
That said, we will look at all options, if I am confirmed,
to find the most effective and most efficient way to accomplish
the goals of the Office of Food Safety, and that certainly
involves and includes protection against intentional
contamination.
The Chairman. If you are confirmed as Under Secretary for
Food Safety, what are some of the key challenges or
opportunities related to U.S. food safety that you look forward
to addressing in that new role?
Dr. Raymond. One of the things that we do need to do--and I
look at them as both challenges and opportunities--one thing
that I do feel that I have learned from the briefings and the
reading that I have done is that we can improve our
communications. I think we can improve our communications
within the system, within the agency, within the Department and
within other Federal agencies that have responsibility to
assure food safety. I think we can also improve our
communications with our constituents, with the public and with
industry.
I am certain that can be done. I know it has to be done.
One of the responses to any type of infectious disease,
intentional or unintentional, is rapid communications with the
public and with the producers, and I know we can do better
there.
The other challenge, but also opportunity, I see is to
improve our laboratory network system. We must have a robust
laboratory system to promptly find sources of contamination and
identity them so we can identity and treat them, and the labs
must be able to communicate with each other. If we have a
contaminant in California and one in Florida that has the same
DNA footprint, that might be intentional as opposed to
accidental. We must be able to do that better than the capacity
that we currently have.
The Chairman. The reason I was late getting here was I was
visiting with the Secretary about an issue of critical
importance not just to the livestock industry, but to all
Americans who enjoy beef and other livestock products. That is
this issue of BSE that has raised its ugly head over the last
couple of years in this country as well as with some of our
trading partners.
Your perspective may not necesarily involve the trade
implications of BSE. However, that is one of the issues the
Secretary and I were talking about this morning, but also
critically important is the food safety side of the issue of
BSE.
Would you comment and give us your thoughts on what
potential there is for harm being done to the domestic food
chain because of the possibility or even the probability of BSE
being found in the United States?
Dr. Raymond. Mr. Chairman, I know that opening the borders
to trade is one of the Secretary's very top priorities, and
therefore it will be done of my top priorities. While I won't
be involved in the actual trade discussions, my job, I think,
is to assure the Secretary with the best science possible that
the public's health is protected by the current measures that
we have instituted in this country to protect against us BSE. I
do think they are working.
I do think, if confirmed, the Secretary will look to me to
be a partner. I do feel, and I think he feels, that the best
marketing tool for our producers is to guarantee the public a
safe product.
[The prepared statement of Dr. Richard Raymond can be found
in the appendix on page 16.]
The Chairman. It looks like I am being surrounded by
Nebraskans this morning. We have been joined by one of your
finest, and that is my good friend, Senator Ben Nelson.
Senator Nelson.
STATEMENT OF HON. BEN NELSON, A U.S. SENATOR FROM NEBRASKA
Senator Nelson. Well, thank you, Mr. Chairman. I am sorry
to be late, as well. I had an unavoidable conflict that I had
previously scheduled, but I would like to say thank you for
holding this hearing and giving the opportunity to me now to
make some comments about Dr. Raymond.
One only needs to review Dr. Pierson's statement last month
in the Federal Workforce and Agency Subcommittee to understand
the complexity of the food safety regulatory system. I might
add also my thanks for Dr. Pierson's service to USDA in his
role as Acting Under Secretary.
As Dr. Raymond appears on the scene, I think he inherits
the world's safest food supply and knows that as time goes by,
that is what we need to continue to be able to have and protect
and project for the rest of the world at a time when we end up
with trade implications with countries unilaterally taking
exception to our food safety, as in the case of the country
Japan in working their way through what appears to me to be
nothing more than a non-tariff trade barrier on our beef today.
I have got a longer statement, very positive, about Dr.
Raymond, with all the experience he has had in practicing in
rural areas, that I would like to put in for the record.
The Chairman. Without objection.
[The prepared statement of Senator Ben Nelson can be found
in the appendix on page 13.]
Senator Nelson. My question today is as you are looking at
FSIS--and it is a food safety, food security issue today--do
you have the necessary tools to be able to do what is required
to assure the world and the Nation that we will continue to
have the world's safest food supply?
Dr. Raymond. Senator Nelson, thank you for that question. I
do. From the information that I have been able to gain in the
last couple of weeks since the nomination was announced, I do
feel the tools are there. I also feel we can make more
efficient use of those tools and do a better job and expand
some of what we do by taking a look at how the agency goes
about its business, if I get that opportunity.
Senator Nelson. In that regard--and maybe you don't know,
but I hope that if you don't, you will be able to find out--
what kind of coordination is there between food safety today
and food security, which could also raise a question about the
ultimate food safety of American products?
Dr. Raymond. Senator, I think food safety and food
protection go hand in hand. I really do feel you can't have one
without the other. I think whether it is an intentional or
unintentional contamination of our food supply, in Nebraska
when we received those very important bioterrorism preparedness
dollars, what we did was we spent every single dollar to
improve our public health preparedness for Mother Nature, for
tornadoes, for West Nile Virus, but also for intentional acts
of contamination such as small pox and other events. They
really do go hand in hand.
Senator Nelson. Is there a system in place or a mechanism
to keep that coordination, if you know?
Dr. Raymond. Senator, I do know that the agency has hired
additional personnel, with their sole responsibility being
protection of the food supply from intentional contamination,
and that they have actually established a separate office to
make sure that everything is being done that can be done to
protect that.
Senator Nelson. I think there is a test that is being run
on one critter that was, I guess, tested initially positive for
BSE. Do we know the age of that animal?
Dr. Raymond. Senator, all I know is having read that that
animal was born before the food bans were put into place.
Senator Nelson. So we are still, as far as we are aware, OK
with animals 30 months or under being free of BSE. Is that
fair?
Dr. Raymond. Senator, I think it is fair for me to respond
that I am comfortable with that ruling from what I have read
and learned and studied, yes.
Senator Nelson. OK. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.
Thank you, and I look forward to working with you, Dr. Raymond.
I am sorry that you are leaving Nebraska, but we are glad you
are here.
Dr. Raymond. It was a very difficult decision to make
because of my love for Nebraska, Senator, as I am sure it was
when you came to work here.
Senator Nelson. It has been. Thank you.
The Chairman. We have been joined by Senator Grassley and
Senator Salazar. Do either of you have any questions or
comments for this witness?
Senator Salazar.
STATEMENT OF HON. KEN SALAZAR, A U.S. SENATOR FROM COLORADO
Senator Salazar. Just a short comment.
Dr. Raymond, I very much enjoyed our meeting yesterday. I
recognize that when we come from the kinds of backgrounds that
we come from, the rural areas, and have an opportunity to serve
our country, it is a privilege. It also puts a warm place in
our hearts to make sure that we are doing everything we can for
agriculture and for rural communities. I very much look forward
to working with you on the issues that will confront the
Department on food safety.
As we spoke yesterday, one of those issues that I want us
to work together on is the whole issue of the Canadian border
and making sure that the road map to opening up that border is
a road map that is articulated and one that I can fully
support. So I look forward to working with you upon your
confirmation, as well as with other members of the USDA on that
effort.
Thank you very much.
The Chairman. Dr. Raymond, thank you very much for being
here this morning. It is our intention to move this nomination
through the confirmation process as quickly as possible. In
that regard, the record will be open for 5 days to give any
other member of the committee the opportunity to submit
questions to you. And if that should happen, we would ask that
you please respond to those very promptly so that we can
continue this nomination through the process.
Thank you very much, Dr. Raymond, for your willingness to
serve and we will look forward to staying in touch.
Dr. Raymond. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
[The biographical information of Dr. Raymond can be found
in the appendix on page 20.]
[Whereupon, at 10:35 a.m., the committee was adjourned.]
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A P P E N D I X
June 22, 2005
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DOCUMENTS SUBMITTED FOR THE RECORD
June 22, 2005
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QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
June 22, 2005
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