U.S. lawmakers are pushing to attach several seafood amendments to the forthcoming Farm Bill renewal as part of an ongoing effort to grow the seafood industry’s presence within the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).
“We urge Members of the House to support these amendments and deliver a Farm Bill that recognizes America’s commercial fishing families as the food producers they are,” Southern Shrimp Alliance Director Blake Price said in a release.
The Farm Bill is the primary legislation governing U.S. agriculture and food policy within the USDA. The legislation has to be renewed roughly every five years, and the seafood industry has pushed to use the latest renewal to secure a larger presence for their sector within USDA. Republicans released a new draft of the Farm Bill in February.
Lawmakers have introduced hundreds of amendments to embed their priorities into the legislation, including several seafood-related provisions.
One amendment would codify the new USDA Office of Seafood, which was established by the President Donald Trump's administration earlier in April.
“President Trump and Secretary Rollins have recognized the importance of revitalizing our domestic seafood industry, just weeks ago establishing a brand new Office of Seafood at USDA,” U.S. Representative Nancy Mace (R-South Carolina) said in a social media post. “One of our amendments to the Farm Bill would codify the new Office of Seafood, ensuring they have a seat at the table going forward and are effectively integrated into USDA programs. American shrimpers, fishermen, and seafood processors deserve the same federal support as every other American farmer. Our amendment delivers it.”
Several amendments would attach other pieces of legislation being considered by Congress to the Farm Bill.
For example, one amendment would incorporate the Buy American Seafood Act, which would require federal agencies to only source domestically-produced seafood products. A separate amendment would also ban consumers from using Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits to purchase non-U.S. seafood.
“American taxpayer dollars should support American fishermen, not foreign competitors. Our amendment to the Farm Bill excludes seafood not harvested, cultivated, and processed within the United States from being purchased with SNAP benefits. This protects domestic producers and ensures federal food assistance dollars stay in American hands,” Mace said. “There is no reason federal dollars should be going to foreign seafood operations overseas, while our shrimpers and fishermen are being undercut.”
Another amendment would incorporate the Save Our Shrimpers (SOS) Act into the Farm Bill. The SOS Act is designed to ensure U.S. representatives at international monetary institutions do not support money going to support foreign shrimp farming operations.
Lawmakers have also introduced an amendment that contains several provisions from the American Seafood Competitiveness Act, legislation introduced to ensure commercial fishing and seafood processors have equal access to USDA programs, loans, and financial services.
U.S. Representative Julia Letlow (R-Louisiana) also introduced an amendment that would expand a ban on Chinese and Russian seafood products in school lunches to include seafood from Vietnam and India.
“To representatives Mace, Letlow, Nehls, Higgins, Ezell, Moore, Gonzalez, Carter, Donalds, Fry, and all of the U.S. shrimp industry’s congressional supporters in the House who have advocated for shrimpers in the Farm Bill, thank you. Your efforts matter to the thousands of fishermen, unloading docks, processors, and families throughout coastal communities across the Gulf of America and Southeast who are counting on Congress to ensure the future viability of this iconic American industry,” Price said in a release.
Next, House lawmakers will decide which of these amendments – if any – will be added to their final Farm Bill. The Senate is also working on its own version of the Farm Bill, and any differences between the two versions will need to be worked out before the legislation is sent to the president to be signed into law.
