Todays not groundhog day is it?

The GAO s latest updated high risk list, February 2013, highlights the fact that despite bipartisan efforts to get rid of the wasteful program that has spent $20 million in 4 years and not inspected a single fish this special interest boondoggle is still around (http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-13-283 p. 198,199).

Remember in February of 2011 GAO reported to Congress (GAO-11-278, p. 112) that the catfish inspection program was at high risk for waste, fraud and abuse by “splitting up seafood oversight and expending scarce resources.” In March of 2011, GAO again identified the USDA catfish inspection program as duplicative in its report on areas where the government could reduce duplication of government programs (GAO-11-318SP, p. 8). In May of 2012 GAO could not have been any more specific when it titled a report; Responsibility for Inspecting Catfish Should Not Be Assigned to USDA (GAO-12-411.)

Now GAO is back and as clear as ever:

Provisions of the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 (Farm Bill) that assigned FSIS responsibility for issuing final regulations to carry out a catfish examination and inspectionprogram would result in duplication of federal programs and cost taxpayers millions of dollars annually without enhancing the safety of catfish intended for human consumption.

To enhance the effectiveness of the food safety system for catfish and avoid duplication of effort and cost, GAO suggested that Congress consider repealing provisions of the Farm Bill thatassigned USDA responsibility for examining and inspecting catfish and for creating a catfish inspection program. Congress has not taken such action.

Did you know theres a new bi-partisan effort in the House and Senate underway to get rid of this wasteful handout?