WASHINGTON, DC—Representatives Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) and George Miller (D-CA) today led a group of 28 Members of Congress calling on the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) to publish a revised poultry slaughter rule, open a new public comment period on the rule and solicit public comments on the revision. The draft final rule was sent from USDA to the Office of Management and Budget last week.

DeLauro is a former Chairwoman of the subcommittee that funds the USDA and Miller is the senior Democrat on the House Education and Workforce Committee. Both have raised concerns with the effect this rule could have on worker safety, as well as food safety and animal welfare. DeLauro first asked for the revised rule to be publicly released last week.

“We understand that ‘significant’ changes have been made to the proposed rule following public comments,” the representatives wrote to Office of Management and Budget Director Shaun Donovan. “Given that concerns have been raised by multiple stakeholders, we request that you direct the USDA to issue a revised proposed rule that will allow for an additional public comment period to continue the dialogue regarding this important issue.”

Today’s letter raises concerns with the implications this rule would have on food safety in particular. “Since the President’s budget request for Fiscal Year 2015 cut funding for poultry line inspectors, we are concerned that the administration pre-determined the final rule with respect to the requirements for robust physical inspection of poultry by government inspectors,” the representatives wrote.

The proposed rule is largely based on the HACCP-Based Inspection Models Project (HIMP). The Government Accountability Office raised serious questions about whether HIMP data being used by FSIS supports USDA’s claims of improved food safety benefits in this rule, further calling the wisdom of this proposed rule into question.

The letter can be read in its entirety here.