Farmers Feeding Families Coronavirus Response Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 6725 To provide Federal funding for targeted purchases to buy food from producers who rely on local agricultural food markets affected by COVID–19, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MAY 5, 2020 Ms. SCHRIER (for herself, Mrs. RODGERS of Washington, Mr. KILMER, Ms. PINGREE, and Ms. DELBENE) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Agriculture A BILL To provide Federal funding for targeted purchases to buy food from producers who rely on local agricultural food markets affected by COVID–19, 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 ‘‘Farmers Feeding 4 Families Coronavirus Response Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. TARGETED PURCHASES. 6 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Agriculture shall 7 use not less than $300,000,000 of the funds available 8 under section 32 of the Act of August 24, 1935 (7 U.S.C. 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:35 May 15, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6725.IH H6725 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 6725 IH 612c), to purchase qualified agricultural products to pro- 1 vide to food assistance programs, including the emergency 2 food assistance program under the Emergency Food As- 3 sistance Act of 1983 (7 U.S.C. 7501 et seq.), of which 4 the Secretary shall utilize— 5 (1) not less than $150,000,000 to purchase spe- 6 cialty crops; 7 (2) not less than $75,000,000 to purchase 8 dairy; and 9 (3) not less than $75,000,000 to purchase meat 10 and poultry products. 11 (b) QUALIFIED AGRICULTURAL PRODUCT DE- 12 FINED.—In this section, the term ‘‘qualified agricultural 13 product’’ means a specialty crop, dairy, meat, or poultry 14 product— 15 (1) that was packaged, marketed, intended to 16 be harvested, or harvested for sale— 17 (A) to commercial or food service indus- 18 tries; or 19 (B) through direct-to-consumer, direct-to- 20 institution, direct-to-retail, or direct-to-res- 21 taurant-or-store marketing channels, including 22 local and regional food enterprises like food 23 hubs, agricultural cooperatives and producer as- 24 sociations; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:35 May 15, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6725.IH H6725 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 6725 IH (2) for which decreased demand exists for such 1 a product due to the COVID–19 outbreak. 2 (c) DIRECT MARKET PRODUCTS.—Of the amounts in 3 subsection (a), to the maximum extent practicable, the 4 Secretary of Agriculture shall use not less than 10 percent 5 to purchase qualified agricultural products that would oth- 6 erwise have been sold through direct-to-consumer, direct- 7 to-institution, direct-to-retail, or direct-to-restaurant mar- 8 keting channels. 9 (d) STATE PURCHASING FUNDS.— 10 (1) IN GENERAL.—In addition to the amounts 11 used under subsection (a), the Secretary of Agri- 12 culture shall use not less than $200,000,000 of the 13 funds available under section 32 of the Act of Au- 14 gust 24, 1935 (7 U.S.C. 612c), to be apportioned 15 among the States for the purpose of procuring addi- 16 tional food products to support food assistance pro- 17 grams within each State. 18 (2) AMOUNT AVAILABLE.—The Secretary shall 19 allocate the amounts made available under para- 20 graph (1) to each State in the amount proportionate 21 to the share such State received under the formula 22 under section 251.3(h) of title 7, Code of Federal 23 Regulations, for such fiscal year 2020. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:35 May 15, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6725.IH H6725 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 6725 IH (3) USE OF FUNDS.—Funds available under 1 this subsection shall be transferred to the State 2 agency designated as responsible for distributing 3 commodities pursuant to a State plan under the 4 emergency food assistance program under the Emer- 5 gency Food Assistance Act of 1983 (7 U.S.C. 7501 6 et seq.). The distributed funds may only be used 7 to— 8 (A) purchase qualified agricultural prod- 9 ucts to be donated to food assistance programs 10 within the State or transferred directly to one 11 or more eligible recipient agencies (as defined in 12 section 201A of the Emergency Food Assist- 13 ance Act of 1983 (7 U.S.C. 7501)) for such 14 procurement; 15 (B) purchase, lease, or otherwise acquire 16 vehicles, including refrigerated vehicles, or other 17 equipment to carry out activities related to pro- 18 curement and distribution of qualified agricul- 19 tural products; 20 (C) reimburse travel costs related to pro- 21 curement of qualified agricultural products at 22 the per mile rate established by the Commis- 23 sioner of the Internal Revenue Service; and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:35 May 15, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6725.IH H6725 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 6725 IH (D) reimburse costs related to preparing, 1 storing, and transporting qualified agricultural 2 products, including transportation to or be- 3 tween recipient agencies, as well as delivery to 4 end-consumers. 5 (4) DIRECT MARKET SUPPORT IN-STATE.— 6 Each State shall, to the maximum extent prac- 7 ticable, use not less than 10 percent of the amounts 8 allocated to such State under paragraph (2) to pur- 9 chase crops and products that would otherwise have 10 been sold through direct-to-consumer, direct-to-insti- 11 tution, direct-to-retail, or direct-to-restaurant mar- 12 keting channels. 13 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:35 May 15, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H6725.IH H6725 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS