GAO Will Probe Pork Checkoff Procedures

June 27, 2000

The General Accounting Office (GAO) will investigate the validation, documentation and decision making process that culminated in the ordering of a referendum on the continuation of the pork checkoff program by USDA Feb. 25.

In a letter to Rep Thomas Ewing (R-IL), James Barcia (D-MI) and all 30 members who requested the investigation, GAO Director of Food and Agriculture Issues Larry Dyckman said that the initial phase of the investigation would be completed by July 12.

GAO intends to investigate what legal authority, if any, the Secretary of Agriculture used in

calling for a referendum and on what basis taxpayer funds can be used to carry out the referendum; the key factors that led the Secretary of Agriculture to order a referendum and the criteria he will use for ordering future pork referenda and the methods used by USDA to verify the pork petition and ways that USDA plans to improve its approach to verifying future pork petitions.

"The Secretary's action has the potential to impact many sectors of American agriculture and therefore, a full airing of the facts and events of this case would benefit both Congress and the American people," members wrote in requesting the investigation.