WASHINGTON, D.C. (Reuters) — Congress has approved $55 million to prevent the temporary layoff of all meat inspectors this summer.
Such a move could have driven up meat prices and created spot shortages in grocery stores and restaurants.
The money for meat inspectors was part of a bill to pay for U.S. government operations through the end of this fiscal year.
However, the bill did not restore budget cuts that took effect March 1.
In a special step, lawmakers shifted $55 million in U.S. Department of Agriculture funding so its food safety agency would have enough money to keep its 8,400 inspectors on the job. Senators wrote the shift into the bill March 20 and the House of Representatives approved it and sent it to president Barack Obama the next day.
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Livestock futures prices in Chicago rose following the House vote. The threat of one-day-a-week layoffs, also known as furloughs, beginning in mid-July has weighed on cattle and hog prices for weeks. Meat packers and processors are barred from operating their 6,300 plants without USDA inspectors.
Agriculture secretary Tom Vilsack said in a statement the $55 million “provides us with funding to help address those furloughs.”
Cargill hailed the prospect of uninterrupted meat inspection through the Sept. 30 end of the fiscal year.
Added Tyson Foods: “This is good news for consumers, farmers, grocery stores, restaurants and meat companies.”
However, representative Robert Aderholt of Alabama, who oversees the USDA budget, said “it has taken an act of Congress to get this administration to do the right thing.”
Republican lawmakers and meat industry officials say USDA designed its response to the budget cuts to be as hurtful as possible, a suggestion the department has rejected.
Vilsack insisted there was no alternative to 11-day layoffs of all 8,400 inspectors because of the March 1 spending cuts, which were equal to nine percent of the money remaining for meat inspection for the rest of the year. The USDA said it had intended to minimize the impact by scheduling the layoffs on non-consecutive days.
“We are gratified that lawmakers recognized the essential nature of meat and poultry inspection by taking this step to prevent inspector furloughs,” said the American Meat Institute.
The government funding bill carried a “biotech rider” authorizing commercial cultivation and sale of a genetically modified crop while the USDA carries out court-ordered research. The rider applies in in-stances where a court vacated USDA approval of a biotech variety but there is no final ruling.
The Center for Food Safety, an opponent of GM food, said the provision undermines the power of federal courts to block potentially hazardous crops from entering the food chain.
The consumer group Food and Water Watch said the provision weakens biotech regulation.
USDA approval is needed for commercial sale of biotech crops. At present, USDA approval of a biotech variety of alfalfa is being challenged in court.
The USDA lost $1.9 billion in the automatic cuts that took effect March 1. It has said up to one-third of its 100,000 employees will be affected by temporary layoffs.
