American Agriculture First Act

II 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION S. 3980 To prioritize the purchase of agricultural commodities from domestically owned enterprises, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES JUNE 17, 2020 Mrs. LOEFFLER introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry 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) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 8 (1) AGRICULTURAL COMMODITY.—The term 9 ‘‘agricultural commodity’’ has the meaning given the 10 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:23 Jun 26, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3980.IS S3980 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 3980 IS term in section 102 of the Agricultural Trade Act of 1 1978 (7 U.S.C. 5602). 2 (2) APPROPRIATE COMMITTEES OF CON- 3 GRESS.—The term ‘‘appropriate committees of Con- 4 gress’’ means— 5 (A) the Committee on Agriculture of the 6 House of Representatives; 7 (B) the Committee on Foreign Affairs of 8 the House of Representatives; 9 (C) the Committee on Ways and Means of 10 the House of Representatives; 11 (D) the Committee on Agriculture, Nutri- 12 tion, and Forestry of the Senate; 13 (E) the Committee on Foreign Relations of 14 the Senate; and 15 (F) the Committee on Finance of the Sen- 16 ate. 17 (3) DOMESTICALLY OWNED ENTERPRISE.—The 18 term ‘‘domestically owned enterprise’’ has the mean- 19 ing given the term in section 773.2 of title 7, Code 20 of Federal Regulations (as in effect on the date of 21 enactment of this Act). 22 (4) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 23 the Secretary of Agriculture. 24 (b) PRIORITIZATION.— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:23 Jun 26, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3980.IS S3980 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 3980 IS (1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in para- 1 graph (2), if the Secretary determines that a re- 2 sponse to trade damage from retaliation by a foreign 3 nation with respect to an agricultural commodity is 4 necessary, the Secretary, acting through the Admin- 5 istrator of the Agricultural Marketing Service, shall 6 purchase from domestically owned enterprises not 7 less than 75 percent of the total quantity of that ag- 8 ricultural commodity purchased under the Food 9 Purchase and Distribution Program. 10 (2) EXCEPTION.—Paragraph (1) shall not 11 apply to the purchase of an agricultural commodity 12 made not less than 30 days after the date on which 13 the Secretary submits to the Committee on Agri- 14 culture of the House of Representatives and the 15 Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry 16 of the Senate a report that explains the reasons that 17 meeting the requirement under paragraph (1)— 18 (A) is not possible because the quantity of 19 the agricultural commodity available from do- 20 mestically owned enterprises cannot meet the 21 supply needs of the Agricultural Marketing 22 Service; or 23 (B) would result in a greater than 150 24 percent increase between— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:23 Jun 26, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3980.IS S3980 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 3980 IS (i) the amount necessary to purchase 1 that agricultural commodity; and 2 (ii) the average cost of that agricul- 3 tural commodity purchased by the Agricul- 4 tural Marketing Service in the prior 3 5 years. 6 (3) PUBLICATION OF AWARDS.—In publishing 7 the awards made to vendors under the purchase pro- 8 grams carried out by the Agricultural Marketing 9 Service, the Secretary shall include whether the enti- 10 ty receiving such an award is a domestically owned 11 enterprise. 12 (4) WTO OBLIGATIONS.—The Secretary shall 13 carry out this section consistent with World Trade 14 Organization obligations of the United States. 15 (c) REPORT REQUIRED.—For each 90-day period 16 during which the Secretary purchases 1 or more agricul- 17 tural commodities as described in subsection (b), the Sec- 18 retary shall submit to the appropriate committees of Con- 19 gress a report that includes the amount of each agricul- 20 tural commodity purchased during that period. 21 (d) SUNSET.—The authority under this section shall 22 expire on September 30, 2023. 23 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:23 Jun 26, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S3980.IS S3980 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS