American Food for American Schools Act of 2021

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 465 To amend the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act to require a school food authority to make publicly available any waiver of the Buy American requirement, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JANUARY 25, 2021 Mr. GARAMENDI (for himself, Ms. KAPTUR, Mr. FORTENBERRY, Mr. RYAN, Mr. LAMALFA, Mr. CARBAJAL, Mr. YOUNG, and Mr. KILMER) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and Labor A BILL To amend the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act to require a school food authority to make publicly available any waiver of the Buy American requirement, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘American Food for 4 American Schools Act of 2021’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 16:10 Feb 13, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H465.IH H465 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 465 IH SEC. 2. WAIVER TO PURCHASE FOREIGN COMMODITIES OR 1 PRODUCTS. 2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 12(n)(2) of the Richard 3 B. Russell National School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 4 1760(n)(2)) is amended— 5 (1) in subparagraph (A), by striking ‘‘subpara- 6 graph (B)’’ and inserting ‘‘subparagraphs (B) and 7 (C)’’; 8 (2) in subparagraph (B)(ii), by striking ‘‘for the 9 school lunch program under this Act or the school 10 breakfast program under section 4 of the Child Nu- 11 trition Act of 1966 (42 U.S.C. 1773).’’ and inserting 12 ‘‘for— 13 ‘‘(I) the school lunch program 14 under this Act, including any snacks 15 served under such program; 16 ‘‘(II) the special milk program 17 under section 3 of the Child Nutrition 18 Act of 1966 (42 U.S.C. 1772); and 19 ‘‘(III) the school breakfast pro- 20 gram under section 4 of the Child Nu- 21 trition Act of 1966 (42 U.S.C. 22 1773).’’. 23 (3) by adding at the end the following: 24 ‘‘(C) WAIVER.— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 16:10 Feb 13, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H465.IH H465 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 465 IH ‘‘(i) WAIVER REQUEST.—Except as 1 provided in clause (ii), a school food au- 2 thority shall request from the Secretary a 3 waiver of subparagraph (A) to purchase 4 foreign commodities or products. 5 ‘‘(ii) EXCEPTION.—A school food au- 6 thority may purchase foreign commodities 7 or products without a waiver under clause 8 (i) if such commodities or products are 9 not— 10 ‘‘(I) produced domestically; or 11 ‘‘(II) available domestically. 12 ‘‘(iii) REQUIREMENTS.—The Sec- 13 retary may not provide a waiver to pur- 14 chase foreign commodities or products 15 under clause (i) unless— 16 ‘‘(I) the commodities or prod- 17 ucts— 18 ‘‘(aa) are not produced do- 19 mestically in sufficient amounts 20 or of satisfactory quality; and 21 ‘‘(bb) if purchased domesti- 22 cally, would be significantly high- 23 er in price than such foreign 24 commodities or products; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 16:10 Feb 13, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H465.IH H465 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 465 IH ‘‘(II) the school enters into an 1 agreement under clause (iv). 2 ‘‘(iv) AGREEMENT.—The Secretary 3 may not provide a waiver under clause (i) 4 unless the school food authority requesting 5 such waiver agrees to— 6 ‘‘(I) not later than 30 days after 7 receiving such a waiver, make the 8 waiver publicly available on the 9 website of the school food authority; 10 and 11 ‘‘(II) not less than once each 12 school year, email a notification of all 13 waivers to parents or guardians of 14 students who will be served the for- 15 eign commodity or product purchased 16 pursuant to any such waivers.’’. 17 (b) DEFINITION OF FOREIGN COMMODITY.—Section 18 12(n)(1) of the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch 19 Act (42 U.S.C. 1760(n)(1)) is amended to read as follows: 20 ‘‘(1) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection: 21 ‘‘(A) DOMESTIC COMMODITY OR PROD- 22 UCT.—The term ‘domestic commodity or prod- 23 uct’ means— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 16:10 Feb 13, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H465.IH H465 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 465 IH ‘‘(i) an agricultural commodity that is 1 produced in the United States; and 2 ‘‘(ii) a food product that is processed 3 in the United States substantially using 4 agricultural commodities that are produced 5 in the United States. 6 ‘‘(B) FOREIGN COMMODITY OR PROD- 7 UCT.—The term ‘foreign commodity or product’ 8 means a commodity or product other than a do- 9 mestic commodity or product.’’. 10 (c) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—Section 12(n) of 11 the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act (42 12 U.S.C. 1760(n)) is amended— 13 (1) in paragraph (3), by striking ‘‘Paragraph 14 (2)(A)’’ and inserting ‘‘Subparagraphs (A) and (C) 15 of paragraph (2)’’; and 16 (2) in paragraph (4), by striking ‘‘Paragraph 17 (2)(A)’’ and inserting ‘‘Subparagraphs (A) and (C) 18 of paragraph (2)’’. 19 (d) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this Act 20 or the amendments by this Act shall affect the require- 21 ments under section 4207 of the Agriculture Improvement 22 Act of 2018 (42 U.S.C. 1760 note). 23 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 16:10 Feb 13, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H465.IH H465 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS