U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., was in Austin on Tuesday to discuss a piece of legislation that drives the nation's economy.
Klobuchar toured the SPAM Museum and met with Hormel officials to discuss the Farm Bill. The bill includes a proposal to create a vaccine bank, which could prevent foot-and-mouth disease from spreading in animals if there were an outbreak.
The proposal was put on the fast track after pork industry officials saw the impact of an Avian Flu outbreak several years ago.
"So people have looked ahead and said 'what would happen if that happened in the pork industry? and we should have these vaccines on-hand and ready to go so if we have that issue we can respond quickly and prevent all of that economic loss and hardship,'" said Jeff Grev, Vice President of Legislative Affairs for Hormel Foods.
The house and senate passed a different version of the Farm Bill. They need to work out a compromise before they can send it to the president.