American Agriculture First Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 2362 To prioritize the purchase of agricultural commodities from domestically owned enterprises, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES APRIL 25, 2019 Mr. MEADOWS introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Agriculture A BILL To prioritize the purchase of agricultural commodities from domestically owned enterprises, 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 Agriculture 4 First Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. AGRICULTURAL COMMODITIES PURCHASED FROM 6 DOMESTICALLY OWNED ENTERPRISES. 7 (a) PRIORITIZATION.— 8 (1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in para- 9 graph (2), if the Secretary of Agriculture determines 10 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:09 Apr 26, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2362.IH H2362 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •HR 2362 IH that response to trade damage from retaliation by 1 foreign nations with respect to agricultural commod- 2 ities is necessary, the Secretary shall, acting through 3 the Administrator of the Agricultural Marketing 4 Service, purchase at least 75 percent of the agricul- 5 tural commodities of the Food Purchase and Dis- 6 tribution Program from domestically owned enter- 7 prises. 8 (2) EXCEPTION.—Paragraph (1) shall not 9 apply to the purchases of agricultural commodities 10 made 30 days after the date on which the Secretary 11 of Agriculture submits to the Committee on Agri- 12 culture of the House of Representatives and the 13 Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry 14 of the Senate a report that explains why meeting the 15 requirements under paragraph (1)— 16 (A) is not possible because agricultural 17 commodities available from domestically owned 18 enterprises cannot meet the supply needs of the 19 Agricultural Marketing Service; or 20 (B) would result in a greater than 150 21 percent increase between— 22 (i) the amount necessary to purchase 23 such agricultural commodities; and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:09 Apr 26, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2362.IH H2362 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •HR 2362 IH (ii) the average cost of such agricul- 1 tural commodities purchased by the Agri- 2 cultural Marketing Service in the prior 3 3 years. 4 (3) PUBLICATION OF AWARDS.—In publishing 5 the awards made to vendors under the purchase pro- 6 grams under the Agricultural Marketing Service, the 7 Secretary of Agriculture shall include whether the 8 entity receiving such an award is a domestically 9 owned enterprise. 10 (4) WTO OBLIGATIONS.—The Secretary of Ag- 11 riculture shall carry out this section consistent with 12 World Trade Organization obligations of the United 13 States. 14 (b) REPORT REQUIRED.—For each 90-day period in 15 which the Secretary of Agriculture purchases agricultural 16 commodities pursuant to subsection (a), the Secretary of 17 Agriculture shall submit to the appropriate committees a 18 report that includes the amount of each such agricultural 19 commodity purchased. 20 (c) SUNSET.—The authority under this section shall 21 expire on September 30, 2023. 22 (d) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 23 (1) AGRICULTURAL COMMODITY.—The term 24 ‘‘agricultural commodity’’ has the meaning given the 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:09 Apr 26, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2362.IH H2362 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •HR 2362 IH term under section 102(1) of the Agricultural Trade 1 Act of 1978 (7 U.S.C. 5602(1)). 2 (2) APPROPRIATE COMMITTEES.—The term 3 ‘‘appropriate committees’’ means the Committee on 4 Agriculture of the House of Representatives, the 5 Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Rep- 6 resentatives, the Committee on Ways and Means of 7 the House of Representatives, the Committee on Ag- 8 riculture, Nutrition, and Forestry of the Senate, the 9 Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate, and 10 the Committee on Finance of the Senate. 11 (3) DOMESTICALLY OWNED ENTERPRISE.—The 12 term ‘‘domestically owned enterprise’’ shall have the 13 meaning given the term under section 773.2 of title 14 7, Code of Federal Regulations (as in effect on the 15 date of the enactment of this Act). 16 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:09 Apr 26, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H2362.IH H2362 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS