Reintroduction of the American Food for American Schools Act of 2023
Floor Speech
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Mr. GARAMENDI. Mr. Speaker, today I reintroduce the ``American Food for American Schools Act.'' I thank Rep. Doug LaMalfa (R-CA) for his support as the original cosponsor and U.S. Senators, Mike Braun (R-IN), and Sherrod Brown (D-OH), for sponsoring the companion.
This bipartisan, bicameral legislation would strengthen enforcement of the existing ``Buy American'' requirements under the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) in-school meal programs. Current law requires school districts to purchase domestically sourced food products for all federally funded in-school meals and afterschool snacks under the National School Lunch Program. However, even in agricultural communities like California's Central Valley, school districts continue to misuse taxpayer dollars to buy imported foods, unnecessarily, without informing parents. In numerous cases, these same imported foods have been recalled due to safety concerns and outbreaks of foodborne diseases. This is especially troubling as those same foods could have been sourced locally in the first place as required by federal law.
That is why our bipartisan bill would increase public transparency by allowing parents to know from where the food served to their children in school comes. School districts would be required to obtain a waiver from USDA to use federal taxpayer dollars to purchase foreign-sourced food products, when unavailable domestically. By requiring USDA to post on line all waivers granted for purchases of foreign-sourced foods served to students, our bill would provide American farmers the opportunity to seek out school districts in need of affordable, domestically grown foods.
In the 115th Congress, we included a ``Buy American'' enforcement provision for the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Program in the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018 (Pub. L. 115-334), commonly known as the 2018 Farm Bill. We also clarified the seafood caught by Untied States-flag vessels or within our Exclusive Economic Zone at sea are domestically sourced foods for the USDA in-school meal programs. This was a first step in addressing this critical issue for American farmers and parents with school-age children. Now, Congress needs to finish the job by passing our ``American Food for American Schools Act'' into law.
Mr. Speaker, I hope all Members will join us in cosponsoring the ``American Food for American Schools Act.'' Our Nation's schoolchildren should be served nutritious, American-grown foods produced under the strictest food safety standards in the world, as required by federal law. That is exactly what our bill would accomplish. I look forward to working with the Committee on Education and Labor to ensure that our bipartisan bill is included in any future Child Nutrition Reauthorization or the upcoming Farm Bill.
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