WASHINGTON - Last week House Republicans voted to cut funds to implement food safety laws approved by the previous Congress, writes The Washington Post, as part of an appropriations bill that sets the Department of Agriculture??s budget.

No Democrats voted in favor of the agriculture appropriations bill, which passed by a vote of 217 to 203, while 19 Republicans joined the Democrats in opposition.

The White House spoke out in opposition to the cuts, saying the USDA would be forced to furlough inspectors at meat and poultry processing plants "and leave the FDA unable to meet the requirements the food safety law, which "calls for the FDA to significantly step up scrutiny of domestic and imported food and devise a system aimed at preventing the kind of contamination that sickens one in six Americans every year," wrote the newspaper.

To carry out the new law, President Obama is seeking $955 million the FDA??s food safety program in the fiscal year that starts Oct. 1. House GOP leaders cut that level down to $750 million, which is $87 million less than what the FDA is currently receiving for food safety.

Rep. Jack Kingston (R-GA) said last week that the cuts were justified because the U.S. food supply is "99.99 percent safe."

"Do we believe that McDonald??s and Kentucky Fried Chicken and Safeway and Kraft Food and any brand name that you think of, that these people aren??t concerned about food safety?" Kingston said on the House floor. "The food supply in America is very safe because the private sector self-polices, because they have the highest motivation."