(VOVworld) - US senators John McCain and Kelly Ayotte introduced a resolution of disapproval under the Congressional Review Act on Tuesday that would nullify the US Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) final ruling on establishing a catfish inspection program.

The inspection program is described as an egregious waste of taxpayer dollars and a classic example of anti-free market protectionism (photo:vna)

The resolution came several days after the USDA issued its final ruling on establishing a catfish inspection program which would negatively affect the import of Vietnamese catfish into the US. The resolution urges the US Congress to eliminate the inspection program as an egregious waste of taxpayer dollars and a classic example of anti-free market protectionism. The two senators said the Government Accounting Office has repeatedly warned that a USDA catfish office would be wasteful and duplicative and would invite retaliation from Asian-Pacific trading partners against American agriculture exports.

Senators McCain and Ayotte said the true purpose of the catfish program is to erect a trade barrier against foreign catfish suppliers to the economic benefit of a handful of domestic catfish growers in southern states.

According to the USDA, the final ruling will become effective in March 2016 and will apply to both locally raised and imported catfish. Under the Congressional Review Act, the US Congress can overturn actions by a federal agency, like the USDA, after a ruling is formally published and submitted to Congress. If the resolution is enacted into law, it would nullify the new catfish inspection ruling and any of its regulations that have already gone into effect.