II 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 4156 

To require the Secretary of Agriculture to provide relief from hardship due 

to the COVID–19 pandemic to agricultural producers, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 2, 2020 

Mr. INHOFE (for himself, Ms. ERNST, Mr. GRASSLEY, Mr. TILLIS, and Mr. 

BURR) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry 

A BILL 

To require the Secretary of Agriculture to provide relief 

from hardship due to the COVID–19 pandemic to agricultural producers, 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 ‘‘Responding to Epi5 demic Losses and Investing in the Economic Future for 

6 Producers Act of 2020’’ or the ‘‘RELIEF for Producers 

7 Act of 2020’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. EMERGENCY ASSISTANCE FOR LIVESTOCK AND 

2 POULTRY LOSSES. 

3 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

4 (1) COVERED LIVESTOCK OR POULTRY.—The 

5 term ‘‘covered livestock or poultry’’ means livestock 

6 or poultry that is— 

7 (A) used only for breeding purposes; 

8 (B) fattening; or 

9 (C) market-ready. 

10 (2) COVERED PRODUCER.—The term ‘‘covered 

11 producer’’ means a person or legal entity that as12 sumes the production and market risks associated 

13 with the agricultural production of livestock and 

14 poultry (as those terms are defined in section 2(a) 

15 of the Packers and Stockyards Act, 1921 (7 U.S.C. 

16 182)). 

17 (3) COVID–19 PUBLIC HEALTH EMERGENCY.— 

18 The term ‘‘COVID–19 public health emergency’’ 

19 means the public health emergency declared by the 

20 Secretary of Health and Human Services under sec21 tion 319 of the Public Health Service Act (42 

22 U.S.C. 247d) on January 31, 2020, with respect to 

23 COVID–19. 

24 (4) INTENTIONAL DEPOPULATION.—The term 

25 ‘‘intentional depopulation’’ means— 


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1 (A) the destruction of covered livestock or 

2 poultry; and 

3 (B) the transfer of covered livestock or 

4 poultry without compensation to a noncommer5 cial interest. 

6 (5) LIVE POULTRY DEALER.—The term ‘‘live 

7 poultry dealer’’ has the meaning given the term in 

8 section 2(a) of the Packers and Stockyards Act, 

9 1921 (7 U.S.C. 182(a)). 

10 (6) PACKER.—The term ‘‘packer’’ has the 

11 meaning given the term in section 201 of the Pack12 ers and Stockyards Act, 1921 (7 U.S.C. 191). 

13 (7) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

14 the Secretary of Agriculture. 

15 (b) PAYMENTS FOR COVERED PRODUCERS.—The 

16 Secretary shall make payments to covered producers to 

17 offset the actual loss of income related to the intentional 

18 depopulation of covered livestock and poultry due to insuf19 ficient regional access to meat or poultry processing re20 lated to the COVID–19 public health emergency, as deter21 mined by the Secretary. 

22 (c) PAYMENT RATE FOR COVERED PRODUCERS.— 

23 (1) PAYMENTS FOR FIRST 30-DAY PERIOD.— 

24 For a period of 30 days beginning, with respect to 

25 a covered producer, on the initial date of the intenVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:59 Jul 12, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4156.IS S4156

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1 tional depopulation described in subsection (b) of the 

2 covered livestock or poultry of the covered producer, 

3 the Secretary shall reimburse the covered producer 

4 for 85 percent of the value of actual losses as deter5 mined under subsection (d). 

6 (2) SUBSEQUENT 30-DAY PERIODS.—For each 

7 30-day period subsequent to the 30-day period de8 scribed in paragraph (1), the Secretary shall reduce 

9 the value of the actual losses determined under sub10 section (d) with respect to a covered producer by 10 

11 percent. 

12 (3) MAXIMUM AGGREGATE PAYMENT.—In no 

13 case shall the amount of payments received by a pro14 ducer under this section exceed 100 percent of the 

15 actual loss of that producer. 

16 (d) VALUATION.— 

17 (1) IN GENERAL.—In calculating the amount of 

18 actual losses for purposes of the payment rates 

19 under subsection (c), the Secretary shall use the av20 erage fair market value, as determined by the Sec21 retary in collaboration with the Chief Economist of 

22 the Department of Agriculture and the Adminis23 trator of the Agricultural Marketing Service, for cov24 ered livestock or poultry, as applicable, during the 


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1 period beginning March 1, 2020, and ending on the 

2 date of enactment of this section. 

3 (2) LIMITATION.—In no case shall a payment 

4 made under subsection (b) exceed the average mar5 ket value of covered livestock or poultry on the date 

6 of the depopulation described in that subsection. 

7 (e) EXCLUDED ANIMALS.—The Secretary may not 

8 make payments under this section for actual losses associ9 ated with livestock owned by a packer or poultry owned 

10 by a live poultry dealer. 

11 (f) FUNDING.—There are appropriated, out of any 

12 amounts in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, such 

13 sums as are necessary to carry out this section. 

14 SEC. 3. ANIMAL DISEASE PREVENTION AND PREPARED15 NESS. 

16 (a) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this section is to off17 set the impact of the COVID–19 public health emergency 

18 (as defined in section 2(a)) by supporting prevention and 

19 preparedness activities conducted pursuant to section 

20 10409A of the Animal Health Protection Act (7 U.S.C. 

21 8308a). 

22 (b) APPROPRIATIONS.—Out of any amounts in the 

23 Treasury not otherwise appropriated, there is appro24 priated to carry out section 10409A of the Animal Health 


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1 Protection Act (7 U.S.C. 8308a) $300,000,000, to remain 

2 available until expended. 

3 (c) EFFECT.—Nothing in this section supersedes ex4 isting activities carried out under section 10409A of the 

5 Animal Health Protection Act (7 U.S.C. 8308a). 

6 SEC. 4. EMERGENCY AUTHORITY FOR THE COMMODITY 

7 CREDIT CORPORATION. 

8 Section 5 of the Commodity Credit Corporation Char9 ter Act (15 U.S.C. 714c) is amended— 

10 (1) by redesignating subsection (h) as sub11 section (j); and 

12 (2) by inserting after subsection (g) the fol13 lowing: 

14 ‘‘(h) Remove and dispose of, or aid in the removal 

15 or disposition of, surplus livestock and poultry due to sig16 nificant supply chain interruption during an emergency 

17 period. 

18 ‘‘(i) Aid agricultural processing plants to ensure sup19 ply chain continuity during an emergency period.’’. 

Æ 


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