II 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 4298 

To amend the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946 to direct the Secretary 

of Agriculture to make grants for improvements to meat and poultry 

facilities to allow for interstate shipment, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 23, 2020 

Mr. MORAN (for himself, Ms. KLOBUCHAR, Mr. LANKFORD, and Ms. SMITH) 

introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the 

Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry 

A BILL 

To amend the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946 to direct 

the Secretary of Agriculture to make grants for improvements to meat and poultry facilities to allow for interstate shipment, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Requiring Assistance 

5 to Meat Processors for Upgrading Plants Act’’ or the 

6 ‘‘RAMP–UP Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. GRANTS FOR IMPROVEMENTS TO MEAT AND POUL2 TRY FACILITIES TO ALLOW FOR INTERSTATE 

3 SHIPMENT. 

4 The Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946 (7 U.S.C. 

5 1621 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the fol6 lowing: 

7 ‘‘Subtitle H—Grants for Improve8 ments to Meat and Poultry Fa9 cilities to Allow for Interstate 

10 Shipment 

11 ‘‘SEC. 298. GRANTS FOR IMPROVEMENTS TO MEAT AND 

12 POULTRY FACILITIES TO ALLOW FOR INTER13 STATE SHIPMENT. 

14 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary, acting through 

15 the Administrator of the Agricultural Marketing Service 

16 and in consultation with the Administrator of the Food 

17 Safety Inspection Service, shall make grants to meat and 

18 poultry processing facilities in operation as of the date on 

19 which an application for such a grant is made to assist 

20 such facilities with respect to costs incurred in making im21 provements to such facilities and carrying out other plan22 ning activities necessary to be subject to inspection under 

23 the Federal Meat Inspection Act (21 U.S.C. 601 et seq.), 

24 or the Poultry Products Inspection Act (21 U.S.C. 451 

25 et seq.). 


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1 ‘‘(b) GRANT AMOUNT.—The amount of a grant under 

2 this section shall not exceed $100,000. 

3 ‘‘(c) CONDITION.—As a condition on receipt of a 

4 grant under this section, a grant recipient shall agree that 

5 if the recipient is not subject to inspection or making a 

6 good faith effort to be subject to inspection under the Fed7 eral Meat Inspection Act (21 U.S.C. 601 et seq.) or the 

8 Poultry Products Inspection Act (21 U.S.C. 451 et seq.) 

9 within 36 months of receiving such grant, the grant recipi10 ent shall make a payment (or payments) to the Secretary 

11 in an amount equal to the amount of the grant. 

12 ‘‘(d) MATCHING FUNDS.— 

13 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall require 

14 a grant recipient to provide matching non-Federal 

15 funds in an amount equal to the amount of a grant. 

16 ‘‘(2) EXCEPTION.—The Secretary shall not re17 quire any grant recipient to provide matching funds 

18 with respect to a grant awarded in fiscal years 2020 

19 or 2021. 

20 ‘‘(e) REPORTS.— 

21 ‘‘(1) REPORTS ON GRANTS MADE.—Beginning 

22 not later than one year after the date on which the 

23 first grant is awarded under this section, and annu24 ally thereafter, the Secretary shall submit to the 

25 Committee on Agriculture and the Committee on 


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1 Appropriations of the House of Representatives and 

2 the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and For3 estry and the Committee on Appropriations of the 

4 Senate a report on grants made under this section 

5 and any facilities that were upgraded using such 

6 funds during the year covered by the report. 

7 ‘‘(2) REPORT ON THE COOPERATIVE INTER8 STATE SHIPMENT PROGRAM.—Beginning not later 

9 than one year after the date of the enactment of this 

10 section, the Secretary shall submit to the Committee 

11 on Agriculture and the Committee on Appropriations 

12 of the House of Representatives and the Committee 

13 on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry and the 

14 Committee on Appropriations of the Senate a report 

15 of any recommendations, developed in consultation 

16 with States, for possible improvements to the cooper17 ative interstate shipment program under section 501 

18 of the Federal Meat Inspection Act (21 U.S.C. 683) 

19 or section 31 of the Poultry Products Inspection Act 

20 (21 U.S.C. 472). 

21 ‘‘(f) FUNDING.— 

22 ‘‘(1) MANDATORY FUNDING.—Of the funds of 

23 the Commodity Credit Corporation, the Secretary 

24 shall use $80,000,000 for the period of fiscal years 


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1 2020 through 2023, to remain available until ex2 pended. 

3 ‘‘(2) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 

4 There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out 

5 this section $20,000,000 for each of fiscal years 

6 2021 through 2023.’’. 

Æ 


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