[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 14 (Monday, January 25, 2021)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E67]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             AMERICAN FOOD FOR AMERICAN SCHOOLS ACT OF 2021

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                          HON. JOHN GARAMENDI

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Monday, January 25, 2021

  Mr. GARAMENDI. Madam Speaker, today I reintroduce the ``American Food 
for American Schools Act,'' which I have sponsored since the 114th 
Congress. I want to thank Representatives Kaptur (D-OH), Fortenberry 
(R-NE), Ryan (D-OH), LaMalfa (R-CA), Carbajal (D-CA), Young (R-AK), and 
Kilmer (D-WA) for their support as original cosponsors.
  Our ``American Food for American Schools Act'' would strengthen 
enforcement of the existing ``Buy American'' requirements under the 
U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) school breakfast, special milk, 
and national school lunch programs. This will ensure that school 
districts use federal taxpayer dollars to purchase domestically sourced 
food products for all in-school meals and afterschool snacks. Our 
bipartisan bill would also increase public transparency by allowing 
parents to know from where the food served to their children in school 
comes.
  Even in California's Central Valley, which includes many of the most 
productive agricultural communities in the nation, 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 food borne diseases. This is especially troubling as those same 
foods could have been sourced locally in the first place as required by 
federal law.
  Under our bill, school districts would be required to obtain a 
written waiver from USDA to use federal taxpayer dollars to purchase 
foreign-sourced food products. Any such waivers would only be granted 
by USDA if the domestically produced food was cost prohibitive or 
simply unavailable. Our bill would also require that school districts 
notify parents of all foreign-sourced foods served to students, by 
posting any such waivers obtained from USDA on the school's website. 
This would increase public transparency and provide American farmers 
the opportunity to seek out school districts in need of affordable, 
domestically grown foods. 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.
  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 (Public Law 115-334), commonly 
known as the 2018 Farm Bill. 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.
  Madam Speaker, I hope all members of the House will join us in 
cosponsoring the ``American Food for American Schools Act of 2021.'' 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 legislation.

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