Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman has written to House Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Joe Skeen, R- N.M., and subcommittee ranking member Marcy Kaptur, D-Ohio, saying he is "greatly concerned that the subcommittee chose not to honor our budget request to provide $583,000 for the office of the undersecretary for food safety" and also did not provide $275,000 for the office of the chief information officer.
A subcommittee aide said Skeen and other members zeroed out the undersecretary for food safety office because they were upset at the slowness of appointments in the Agriculture Department -- and specifically because the position of undersecretary for food safety has never been filled since it was created in 1994.
However, Catherine Woteki, currently deputy undersecretary for research, education and economics, has been nominated for the food safety post.
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