WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Herb Kohl today met with President Obama’s nominee to head the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Dr. Margaret Hamburg, in advance of her confirmation hearings in the Senate.  Kohl is the chairman of the Senate Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee which has jurisdiction over funding for the FDA, and has worked to increase the FDA’s budget to bolster their efforts to keep the food supply safe.  During the last Administration, Kohl pushed FDA to increase the number of food safety inspectors domestically and abroad, and to develop new, regional rapid response teams across the country to identify and isolate contaminated produce at its source.  Upon Dr. Hamburg’s confirmation by the Senate, she will become a principal member of the President’s Food Safety Working Group.

            “We had a good meeting about what we hope to accomplish in terms of keeping our food supply safe.  Dr. Hamburg has a background that will bring a new perspective to looking at the holes in our food safety network, and she understands that there is an immediate need to address them.   I look forward to working with her to help the FDA meet its goals,” Kohl said.

            Last week, Kohl announced that he would hold oversight hearings in the coming months to examine FDA’s efforts to keep the food supply safe, and that he would work with the incoming FDA Commissioner and the President’s interagency Food Safety Working Group to overhaul the food safety system.

            In FY2008, Kohl worked to provide an increase of $90 million over the Bush Administration’s request for the FDA, much of it directed to food safety.  For FY2009, one of Kohl’s priorities was to increase funding for the FDA by nearly $325 million over the previous year.