I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2712 

To require that purchases of agricultural commodities made by the Secretary 

of Agriculture under the Food Purchase and Distribution Program be 

from domestically owned enterprises, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 14, 2019 

Ms. DELAURO (for herself and Mr. MCGOVERN) introduced the following bill; 

which was referred to the Committee on Agriculture 

A BILL 

To require that purchases of agricultural commodities made 

by the Secretary of Agriculture under the Food Purchase 

and Distribution Program be from domestically owned 

enterprises, 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 ‘‘Buy American Agri5 culture Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. AGRICULTURAL COMMODITIES PURCHASED FROM 

7 DOMESTICALLY OWNED ENTERPRISES. 

8 (a) BUY AMERICA REQUIREMENT.— 


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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in para2 graph (2), in making purchase of agricultural com3 modities and seafood under the Food Purchase and 

4 Distribution Program, the Secretary of Agriculture, 

5 acting through the Administrator of the Agricultural 

6 Marketing Service, may only make such purchases 

7 from domestically owned enterprises. 

8 (2) EXCEPTION.—Paragraph (1) shall not 

9 apply if the Secretary of Agriculture determines that 

10 applying such paragraph— 

11 (A) would be inconsistent with the public 

12 interest; 

13 (B) is not possible because agricultural 

14 commodities and seafood produced by domesti15 cally owned enterprises, as determined by the 

16 Secretary of Agriculture, are not produced— 

17 (i) in sufficient quantities; or 

18 (ii) in a satisfactory quality; or 

19 (C) would result in a greater than 25 per20 cent increase between— 

21 (i) the amount necessary to apply 

22 such paragraph in a fiscal year; and 

23 (ii) the amount spent by the Agricul24 tural Marketing Service in purchasing ag25 ricultural commodities and seafood under 


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1 the Food Purchase and Distribution Pro2 gram in the fiscal year prior to such fiscal 

3 year. 

4 (3) PUBLICATION OF WAIVERS.—If the Sec5 retary of Agriculture determines that paragraph (1) 

6 should not apply due to a condition specified in sub7 paragraphs (A) through (C) of paragraph (2), the 

8 Secretary of Agriculture shall publish in the Federal 

9 Register a report that includes such determination. 

10 (b) PUBLICATION OF AWARDS.—In publishing the 

11 awards made to vendors under the purchase programs 

12 under the Agricultural Marketing Service, the Secretary 

13 of Agriculture shall include the determination of such 

14 award and whether the entity receiving such an award is 

15 a domestically owned enterprise. 

16 (c) APPLICATION OF SECTION.—This section shall be 

17 applied in a manner consistent with the United States ob18 ligations under international agreements. 

19 (d) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

20 (1) AGRICULTURAL COMMODITY.—The term 

21 ‘‘agricultural commodity’’ has the meaning given the 

22 term under section 102(1) of the Agricultural Trade 

23 Act of 1978 (7 U.S.C. 5602(1)). 


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1 (2) SEAFOOD.—The term ‘‘seafood’’ means 

2 finfish, shellfish, or aquatic plants that are farm3 raised or harvested from the wild. 

Æ 


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