Farmers-Feeding-Families Coronavirus Response Act

II 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION S. 3655 To provide funding for targeted purchases of qualified agricultural products from producers that rely on local agricultural food markets affected by COVID–19, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES MAY 7, 2020 Mr. CASEY introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry A BILL To provide funding for targeted purchases of qualified agri- cultural products from producers that rely on local agri- cultural 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 OF AGRICULTURAL PROD- 6 UCTS. 7 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 8 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:33 May 13, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3655.IS S3655 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •S 3655 IS (1) EMERGENCY FOOD ASSISTANCE PRO- 1 GRAM.—The term ‘‘emergency food assistance pro- 2 gram’’ means the emergency food assistance pro- 3 gram established under the Emergency Food Assist- 4 ance Act of 1983 (7 U.S.C. 7501 et seq.). 5 (2) QUALIFIED AGRICULTURAL PRODUCT.—The 6 term ‘‘qualified agricultural product’’ means a spe- 7 cialty crop, dairy product, meat product, or poultry 8 product— 9 (A) that was packaged, marketed, intended 10 to be harvested, or harvested for sale— 11 (i) to commercial or food service in- 12 dustries; or 13 (ii) through direct-to-consumer, di- 14 rect-to-institution, direct-to-retail, direct- 15 to-restaurant, or direct-to-store marketing 16 channels, including local and regional food 17 enterprises such as food hubs, agricultural 18 cooperatives, and producer associations; 19 and 20 (B) for which decreased demand exists due 21 to the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID–19), 22 as determined by the Secretary. 23 (3) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 24 the Secretary of Agriculture. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:33 May 13, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3655.IS S3655 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •S 3655 IS (b) TARGETED PURCHASES.— 1 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall use not 2 less than $300,000,000 of the amounts appropriated 3 under section 32 of the Act of August 24, 1935 (7 4 U.S.C. 612c), to purchase qualified agricultural 5 products to provide to food assistance programs, in- 6 cluding the emergency food assistance program. 7 (2) QUALIFIED AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS PUR- 8 CHASED.—In carrying out paragraph (1), the Sec- 9 retary shall use— 10 (A) not less than $100,000,000 to pur- 11 chase specialty crops; 12 (B) not less than $100,000,000 to pur- 13 chase dairy; and 14 (C) not less than $100,000,000 to pur- 15 chase meat and poultry products, including 16 eggs. 17 (3) DIRECT MARKET PRODUCTS.—In carrying 18 out paragraph (1), the Secretary shall, to the max- 19 imum extent practicable, use not less than 10 per- 20 cent of the amount made available under that para- 21 graph to purchase qualified agricultural products 22 that would otherwise be sold through direct-to-con- 23 sumer, direct-to-institution, direct-to-retail, or di- 24 rect-to-restaurant marketing channels. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:33 May 13, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3655.IS S3655 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •S 3655 IS (4) CONSULTATION.—If applicable, the Admin- 1 istrator of the Agricultural Marketing Service shall 2 consult with the Administrator of the Food and Nu- 3 trition Service in determining which qualified agri- 4 cultural products to purchase pursuant to this sub- 5 section. 6 (c) STATE PURCHASING FUNDS.— 7 (1) IN GENERAL.—In addition to the amounts 8 used under subsection (b), the Secretary shall use 9 not less than $200,000,000 of the amounts appro- 10 priated under section 32 of the Act of August 24, 11 1935 (7 U.S.C. 612c), to allocate to States, in ac- 12 cordance with paragraph (2), to use for the procure- 13 ment of additional food products to support State 14 food assistance programs. 15 (2) ALLOCATION OF FUNDS.—The Secretary 16 shall allocate amounts to States under paragraph 17 (1) according to the formula described in section 18 251.3(h) of title 7, Code of Federal Regulations (or 19 successor regulations), as applied for fiscal year 20 2020. 21 (3) STATE AGENCY FUND RECIPIENT.— 22 Amounts allocated to a State under this subsection 23 shall be provided to the State agency responsible for 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:33 May 13, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3655.IS S3655 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •S 3655 IS distributing commodities pursuant to a State plan 1 under the emergency food assistance program. 2 (4) USE OF FUNDS.—A State shall use funds 3 allocated under this subsection only— 4 (A) to purchase qualified agricultural prod- 5 ucts— 6 (i) to donate to food assistance pro- 7 grams in the State; or 8 (ii) to transfer directly to an eligible 9 recipient agency (as defined in section 10 201A of the Emergency Food Assistance 11 Act of 1983 (7 U.S.C. 7501)); 12 (B) to purchase, lease, or otherwise ac- 13 quire vehicles, including refrigerated vehicles, or 14 other equipment to carry out activities relating 15 to procurement and distribution of qualified ag- 16 ricultural products; 17 (C) to reimburse travel costs relating to 18 procurement of qualified agricultural products 19 at the per mile rate established by the Commis- 20 sioner of the Internal Revenue Service; and 21 (D) to reimburse costs relating to pre- 22 paring, storing, and transporting qualified agri- 23 cultural products, including transportation to or 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:33 May 13, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3655.IS S3655 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •S 3655 IS between eligible recipient agencies, as well as 1 delivery to end-consumers. 2 (5) DIRECT MARKET SUPPORT IN-STATE.— 3 Each State shall, to the maximum extent prac- 4 ticable, use not less than 10 percent of the amount 5 allocated to the State under this subsection to pur- 6 chase crops and products that would otherwise be 7 sold through direct-to-consumer, direct-to-institu- 8 tion, direct-to-retail, or direct-to-restaurant mar- 9 keting channels. 10 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:33 May 13, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S3655.IS S3655 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS