Senator Braun’s Weekly Update | Produce Supply Chain, Senate Returns, Smart Reopening

Sen. Mike Braun (R-Ind.) is calling on the Trump administration to include fruit and vegetable processing plants in an executive order meant to keep meat processing facilities open during the coronavirus pandemic.

Braun requested the administration include canneries and frozen food suppliers in the order President Trump signed Tuesday evening to secure the U.S. supply of non-perishable foods.

“I urge you to use this authority to ensure that our nation’s supply chain of canned and frozen fruit and vegetables remains secure,” Braun wrote to Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue on Wednesday.

He noted that produce has a short harvest and processing window and is particularly vulnerable.

“For example, our nation’s annual supply of canned and frozen corn, green beans, tomatoes, peaches and peas are harvested and packed within the span of two to three months,” he wrote.

“Our job is to get nominations across the finish line, and I’ve put so much time and effort into health care reform and climate,” said Sen. Mike Braun (R-Ind.). “I almost feel like that wanes every day you’re not there.”

Senator Braun joined Fox59’s INFocus Coronavirus Town Hall on Wednesday night to answer viewer questions about the federal coronavirus response and the path to getting Hoosiers back to work and our economy back to growth.

“For government leaders, for individuals, for businesses, we are going to have a new normal,” U.S. Sen. Mike Braun of Jasper said. “This is a very challenging and tricky virus that we’re up against. We have to wait on therapies to be perfected; we’re gonna need to wait on a vaccine.”

The country has been waiting and adhering, for the most part, to strict health guidelines since March. Soon, it will be time to start getting the economy going again, Braun said.

“The quicker we can get back to reopening businesses in a smart way and getting people back to work,” he said, “that’s what’s going to bring us out of this, but also realizing that we need to stay disciplined.”

Braun explained that President Donald Trump’s plan for reopening the economy is more so a guideline for states to use if needed.