IIB 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 7276 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

NOVEMBER 30, 2020 

Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations 

AN ACT 

To establish an interagency working group to develop a comprehensive, strategic plan to control locust outbreaks in 

the East Africa region and address future outbreaks 

in order to avert mass scale food insecurity and potential 

political destabilization, 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, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Desert Locust Control 

3 Act’’. 

4 SEC. 2. STATEMENT OF POLICY. 

5 It is the policy of the United States to prioritize ef6 forts to control the ongoing desert locust outbreak in East 

7 Africa and other affected regions, mitigate the impacts on 

8 food security, economic productivity, and political sta9 bility, improve interagency coordination to prevent future 

10 outbreaks, and promote resilience in affected countries. 

11 SEC. 3. FINDINGS. 

12 Congress finds the following: 

13 (1) The United States Agency for International 

14 Development reports that countries in East Africa 

15 are currently suffering the worst desert locust out16 break in decades, which will devour crops and pas17 ture and destroy local livelihoods across the region. 

18 (2) As of June 2020, there were more than 26 

19 million people experiencing acute food insecurity in 

20 Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, Tanzania, 

21 Uganda, Sudan, and Djibouti, and these numbers 

22 are projected to increase if the desert locust out23 break is not controlled. 

24 (3) As the desert locust outbreak continues, 

25 there may be insufficient resources to continue to 

26 conduct aerial spraying and without such resources 


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1 the current outbreak could develop into a plague by 

2 the end of 2020. 

3 (4) The desert locust outbreak in East Africa, 

4 particularly in Kenya, Ethiopia, and Somalia, is neg5 atively impacting food security, local livelihoods and 

6 economic productivity, and may threaten political 

7 stability in the region. 

8 (5) Proactive investments now to control the 

9 desert locust outbreak could reduce the need for a 

10 much larger United States humanitarian response 

11 effort later, as well as support economic and political 

12 stability and build resilience in affected countries. 

13 (6) In order to optimize the United States re14 sponse to the desert locust outbreak, an interagency 

15 working group should be established to develop and 

16 implement a comprehensive, strategic plan to control 

17 the desert locust outbreak in East Africa and other 

18 affected regions, mitigate impacts on food security, 

19 economic productivity, and political stability and 

20 prevent future outbreaks. 

21 SEC. 4. INTERAGENCY WORKING GROUP. 

22 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The President shall establish 

23 an interagency working group to coordinate the United 

24 States response to the ongoing desert locust outbreak in 

25 East Africa and other affected regions, including the deVerDate Sep 11 2014 21:51 Dec 01, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7276.RFS H7276

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1 velopment of a comprehensive, strategic plan to control the 

2 outbreak, mitigate the impacts on food security, economic 

3 productivity, and political stability, and prevent future 

4 outbreaks. 

5 (b) MEMBERSHIP.— 

6 (1) IN GENERAL.—The interagency working 

7 group shall be composed of the following: 

8 (A) Two representatives from the United 

9 States Agency for International Development. 

10 (B) One representative from each of the 

11 following: 

12 (i) The United States Mission to the 

13 United Nations Agencies for Food and Ag14 riculture. 

15 (ii) The National Security Council. 

16 (iii) The Department of State. 

17 (iv) The Department of Defense. 

18 (v) The Department of Agriculture. 

19 (vi) Any other relevant Federal de20 partment or agency. 

21 (2) CHAIR.—The President shall designate one 

22 of the representatives from the United States Agen23 cy for International Development described in para24 graph (1)(A) to serve as chair of the interagency 

25 working group. 


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1 (c) DUTIES.—The interagency working group shall— 

2 (1) assess the scope of the desert locust out3 break in East Africa and other affected regions, in4 cluding its impact on food security, economic pro5 ductivity, and political stability in affected countries; 

6 (2) assess the impacts of restrictions relating to 

7 the coronavirus disease 2019 (commonly referred to 

8 as ‘‘COVID–19’’) pandemic; 

9 (3) monitor the effectiveness of ongoing assist10 ance efforts to control the desert locust outbreak 

11 and mitigate its impacts and identify gaps and op12 portunities for additional support to such programs; 

13 (4) review the effectiveness of regional and mul14 tilateral efforts to control the desert locust outbreak 

15 and the coordination among relevant United States 

16 Government agencies, regional governments, and 

17 international organizations, including the World 

18 Food Programme and the United Nations Food and 

19 Agriculture Organization; and 

20 (5) not later than 90 days after the establish21 ment of the interagency working group under sub22 section (a), develop and submit to the President and 

23 the appropriate congressional committees a com24 prehensive, strategic plan to control the desert locust 

25 outbreak, including a description of efforts to— 


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1 (A) improve coordination among relevant 

2 United States Government agencies, regional 

3 governments, and international organizations, 

4 including the World Food Programme and the 

5 United Nations Food and Agriculture Organiza6 tion; 

7 (B) ensure delivery of necessary assets 

8 control the desert locust outbreak and humani9 tarian and development assistance to address 

10 and mitigate impacts to food security, economic 

11 productivity, and political stability; and 

12 (C) to the extent practicable, prevent and 

13 mitigate future desert locust and other, similar 

14 destructive insect outbreaks (such as Fall 

15 Armyworm) in Africa and other parts of the 

16 world, which require a humanitarian response. 

17 (d) INTERAGENCY WORKING GROUP SUPPORT.—The 

18 interagency working group shall continue to meet not less 

19 than semi-annually to facilitate implementation of the 

20 comprehensive, strategic plan required by subsection 

21 (c)(5). 

22 (e) SUNSET.—This section shall terminate on the 

23 date that is 2 years after the date of the enactment of 

24 this Act, or at such time as there is no longer an upsurge 


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1 in the desert locust outbreak in East Africa, whichever oc2 curs earlier. 

3 (f) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEES DE4 FINED.—In this section, the term ‘‘appropriate congres5 sional committees’’ means— 

6 (1) the Committee on Foreign Affairs and the 

7 Committee on Appropriations of the House of Rep8 resentatives; and 

9 (2) the Committee on Foreign Relations and 

10 the Committee on Appropriations of the Senate. 

Passed the House of Representatives November 18, 

2020. 

Attest: CHERYL L. JOHNSON, 

Clerk. 


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