[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2301 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
<DOC>
118th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 2301
To amend the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act to require a
school food authority to make publicly available any waiver of the Buy
American requirement, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
July 13, 2023
Mr. Braun (for himself and Mr. Brown) introduced the following bill;
which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture,
Nutrition, and Forestry
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To amend the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act to require a
school food authority to make publicly available any waiver of the Buy
American requirement, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``American Food for American Schools
Act of 2023''.
SEC. 2. REQUIREMENTS FOR PURCHASE OF FOREIGN COMMODITIES OR PRODUCTS.
(a) Definitions.--Section 12(n) of the Richard B. Russell National
School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1760(n)) is amended by striking paragraph
(1) and inserting the following:
``(1) Definitions.--In this subsection:
``(A) Domestic commodity or product.--The term
`domestic commodity or product' means--
``(i) an agricultural commodity that is
produced in the United States;
``(ii) a food product that--
``(I) is processed in the United
States; and
``(II) substantially contains
agricultural commodities described in
clause (i); and
``(iii) fish or seafood harvested--
``(I) within the Exclusive Economic
Zone of the United States (as
established by Presidential
Proclamation Number 5030, dated March
10, 1983) (16 U.S.C. 1453 note)); or
``(II) by a United States-flagged
vessel.
``(B) Foreign commodity or product.--The term
`foreign commodity or product' means a commodity or
product other than a domestic commodity or product.''.
(b) Requirement.--Section 12(n)(2) of the Richard B. Russell
National School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1760(n)(2)) is amended--
(1) in subparagraph (A)--
(A) by striking ``subparagraph (B)'' and inserting
``subparagraphs (B) and (C)''; and
(B) by striking ``purchase, to the maximum extent
practicable, domestic'' and inserting ``purchase
domestic'';
(2) in subparagraph (B)(ii), by striking ``for the school
lunch program under this Act or the school breakfast program
under section 4 of the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 (42 U.S.C.
1773).'' and inserting the following: ``for--
``(I) the school lunch program
under this Act, including any snacks
served under that program;
``(II) the summer food service
program for children under section 13;
``(III) the child and adult care
food program under section 17;
``(IV) the special milk program
under section 3 of the Child Nutrition
Act of 1966 (42 U.S.C. 1772); and
``(V) the school breakfast program
under section 4 of the Child Nutrition
Act of 1966 (42 U.S.C. 1773).''; and
(3) by adding at the end the following:
``(C) Waiver.--
``(i) In general.--Except as provided in
clause (ii), a school food authority shall be
required to request from the Secretary a waiver
of subparagraph (A) before purchasing foreign
commodities or products.
``(ii) Exception.--A school food authority
may purchase foreign commodities or products
without a waiver under clause (i) if the
foreign commodities or products--
``(I) are not produced or processed
domestically in sufficient quantities
and of satisfactory quality; or
``(II) are not reasonably available
domestically in sufficient quantities
and of satisfactory quality.
``(iii) Limitation.--Waivers may only be
granted under clause (i) for up to 5 percent of
the total annual commercial food costs of a
school food authority within each food
component (as defined in section 210.2 of title
7, Code of Federal Regulations (or successor
regulations)).
``(iv) Notification requirement.--A school
food authority that purchases foreign
commodities or products under this subparagraph
shall be required, not less than once each
school year, to notify parents or guardians of
students of the foreign commodities or products
purchased.
``(v) Publicly available list of waivers.--
``(I) In general.--Not later than 1
year after the first waiver is provided
under this subparagraph, the Secretary
shall establish and maintain on the
website of the Department of
Agriculture a publicly available list
of each waiver provided under this
subparagraph, which shall include
information--
``(aa)(AA) on each school
food authority that has
received a waiver under this
subparagraph; and
``(BB) on each food product
for which that school food
authority received the waiver;
and
``(bb) contained in each
report submitted under clause
(vi)(II).
``(II) Maintenance.--The Secretary
shall update the list established in
subclause (I)--
``(aa) with respect to item
(aa) of that subclause, not
later than 90 days after a
waiver is granted under this
subparagraph; and
``(bb) with respect to item
(bb) of that subclause, on an
annual basis.
``(vi) Reports.--
``(I) Report to state educational
agency.--A school food authority shall
submit to the State educational agency
that serves the school food authority,
on an annual basis, a report detailing
the categories of foreign commodities
or products purchased without a waiver
under clause (ii).
``(II) Report to secretary.--The
State educational agency shall submit
to the Secretary, on an annual basis, a
report containing a compilation of the
information reported to the State
educational agency under subclause
(I).''.
(c) Conforming Amendments.--Section 12(n) of the Richard B. Russell
National School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1760(n)) is amended--
(1) in paragraph (3), by striking ``Paragraph (2)(A)'' and
inserting ``Subparagraphs (A) and (C) of paragraph (2)''; and
(2) in paragraph (4), by striking ``Paragraph (2)(A)'' and
inserting ``Subparagraphs (A) and (C) of paragraph (2)''.
SEC. 3. BUY AMERICAN CONTRACT REQUIREMENTS.
Section 12(n) of the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act
(42 U.S.C. 1760(n)) is amended by adding at the end the following:
``(5) Contracts.--
``(A) In general.--Any contract entered into
between a school food authority and a supplier for a
commodity or food product for programs under this Act
or the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 (42 U.S.C. 1771 et
seq.) after the date of enactment of this paragraph
shall include a provision (referred to in this
paragraph as the `covered provision') that requires the
supplier to comply with the requirements of this
subsection.
``(B) Reimbursement in the case of noncompliance.--
``(i) In general.--A supplier that enters
into a contract described in subparagraph (A)
that does not comply with the covered provision
in the contract shall be required to pay to the
Secretary an amount equal to the amount of
Federal funds the supplier used to purchase
foreign commodities or products in
noncompliance of the covered provision.
``(ii) Limitation.--Funds paid to the
Secretary under clause (i) shall be available
to the Secretary, without further appropriation
or fiscal year limitation, to carry out
subsection (m).
``(C) Use of noncompliant goods.--A school food
authority that receives foreign commodities or products
that were obtained in noncompliance with the covered
provision in the contract of the school food authority
may use those foreign commodities or products without
requesting a waiver under paragraph (2)(C).
``(D) Reporting.--
``(i) Report to state educational agency.--
A school food authority shall submit to the
State educational agency that serves the school
food authority an annual report describing any
noncompliance of a covered provision in any
contract described in subparagraph (A).
``(ii) Report to secretary.--A State
educational agency shall submit to the
Secretary an annual report containing a
compilation of each instance of noncompliance
reported to the State educational agency under
clause (i).
``(E) Publication.--The Secretary shall make
publicly available on the website of the Department of
Agriculture a list of each instance of noncompliance
reported to the Secretary under subparagraph
(D)(ii).''.
SEC. 4. TECHNICAL AMENDMENTS.
(a) Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act.--
(1) Section 9(b) of the Richard B. Russell National School
Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1758(b)) is amended--
(A) in paragraph (3)(E)(iii), in each of subclauses
(III) and (IV), by striking ``reduced-price'' each
place it appears and inserting ``reduced price''; and
(B) in paragraph (15)(A)(i)(II), by striking
``regulations)'' and inserting ``regulations))''.
(2) Section 11(e) of the Richard B. Russell National School
Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1759a(e)) is amended by striking
``reduced-priced'' and inserting ``reduced price''.
(3) Section 13(a)(7)(A)(iv) of the Richard B. Russell
National School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1761(a)(7)(A)(iv)) is
amended by inserting ``section'' after ``under''.
(4) Section 17(o)(3)(A) of the Richard B. Russell National
School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1766(o)(3)(A)) is amended by
striking ``consulation'' and inserting ``consultation''.
(5) Section 22 of the Richard B. Russell National School
Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1769c) is amended--
(A) in subsection (a)--
(i) by striking the subsection designation
and heading and all that follows through
``There'' in paragraph (1) in the matter
preceding subparagraph (A) and inserting the
following:
``(a) Unified Accountability System.--There''; and
(ii) by redesignating subparagraphs (A) and
(B) as paragraphs (1) and (2), respectively,
and indenting appropriately; and
(B) in subsection (b)(1)(A), by striking ``in
subparagraphs (A) and (B) of paragraph (1)'' and
inserting ``in paragraphs (1) and (2) of subsection
(a)''.
(b) Child Nutrition Act of 1966.--
(1) Section 7(a)(2)(B)(i) of the Child Nutrition Act of
1966 (42 U.S.C. 1776(a)(2)(B)(i)) is amended by striking
``clause (ii)'' and inserting ``clause (ii))''.
(2) Section 17(h)(4) of the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 (7
U.S.C. 1786(h)(4)) is amended--
(A) in subparagraph (A)(vi), by striking ``and'' at
the end; and
(B) in subparagraph (C)(iv), by striking ``; and''
and inserting a period.
SEC. 5. RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.
Nothing in this Act or the amendments made by this Act shall affect
the requirements under section 4207 of the Agriculture Improvement Act
of 2018 (42 U.S.C. 1760 note; Public Law 115-334).
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