Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress House Bill HB2236 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1	I
2	2	119THCONGRESS
3	3	1
4	4	STSESSION H. R. 2236
5	5	To direct the Secretary of Agriculture to carry out a demonstration project
6	6	to allow Tribal entities to purchase agricultural commodities under the
7	7	commodity supplemental food program, and for other purposes.
8	8	IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
9	9	MARCH18, 2025
10	10	Mr. V
11	11	ASQUEZintroduced the following bill; which was referred to the
12	12	Committee on Agriculture
13	13	A BILL
14	14	To direct the Secretary of Agriculture to carry out a dem-
15	15	onstration project to allow Tribal entities to purchase
16	16	agricultural commodities under the commodity supple-
17	17	mental food program, and for other purposes.
18	18	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
19	19	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
20	20	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
21	21	This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Healthy Foods for Na-4
22	22	tive Seniors Act’’. 5
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25	25	•HR 2236 IH
26	26	SEC. 2. COMMODITY SUPPLEMENTAL FOOD PROGRAM 1
27	27	DEMONSTRATION PROJECT FOR TRIBAL OR-2
28	28	GANIZATIONS. 3
29	29	(a) D
30	30	EMONSTRATIONPROJECT FORTRIBALORGANI-4
31	31	ZATIONS.— 5
32	32	(1) D
33	33	EFINITIONS.—In this subsection: 6
34	34	(A) D
35	35	EMONSTRATION PROJECT .—The term 7
36	36	‘‘demonstration project’’ means the demonstra-8
37	37	tion project established under paragraph (2). 9
38	38	(B) F
39	39	OOD DISTRIBUTION PROGRAM .—The 10
40	40	term ‘‘food distribution program’’ means the 11
41	41	commodity supplemental food program under 12
42	42	section 4 of the Agriculture and Consumer Pro-13
43	43	tection Act of 1973 (7 U.S.C. 612c note). 14
44	44	(C) I
45	45	NDIAN RESERVATION.—The term ‘‘In-15
46	46	dian reservation’’ has the meaning given the 16
47	47	term ‘‘reservation’’ in section 3 of the Food and 17
48	48	Nutrition Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2012). 18
49	49	(D) I
50	50	NDIAN TRIBE.—The term ‘‘Indian 19
51	51	Tribe’’ has the meaning given such term in sec-20
52	52	tion 4 of the Indian Self-Determination and 21
53	53	Education Assistance Act (25 U.S.C. 5304). 22
54	54	(E) S
55	55	ECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ 23
56	56	means the Secretary of Agriculture. 24
57	57	(F) S
58	58	ELF-DETERMINATION CONTRACT .— 25
59	59	The term ‘‘self-determination contract’’ has the 26
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62	62	•HR 2236 IH
63	63	meaning given such term in section 4 of the In-1
64	64	dian Self-Determination and Education Assist-2
65	65	ance Act (25 U.S.C. 5304) with modification as 3
66	66	determined by the Secretary. 4
67	67	(G) T
68	68	RIBAL ENTITY.—The term ‘‘Tribal 5
69	69	entity’’ means— 6
70	70	(i) an Indian reservation; 7
71	71	(ii) an Indian Tribe; and 8
72	72	(iii) a Tribal organization. 9
73	73	(H) T
74	74	RIBAL ORGANIZATION .—The term 10
75	75	‘‘Tribal organization’’ has the meaning given 11
76	76	such term in section 3 of the Food and Nutri-12
77	77	tion Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2012). 13
78	78	(2) E
79	79	STABLISHMENT.—Subject to the avail-14
80	80	ability of appropriations, the Secretary shall estab-15
81	81	lish a demonstration project under which 1 or more 16
82	82	Tribal entities may enter into self-determination 17
83	83	contracts to purchase agricultural commodities 18
84	84	under the food distribution program for the Indian 19
85	85	reservation of that Tribal entity. 20
86	86	(3) E
87	87	LIGIBILITY.— 21
88	88	(A) C
89	89	ONSULTATION.—The Secretary shall 22
90	90	consult with Tribal entities to determine the 23
91	91	process under which each entity may participate 24
92	92	in the demonstration project. 25
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95	95	•HR 2236 IH
96	96	(B) CRITERIA.—The Secretary shall select 1
97	97	for participation in the demonstration project 2
98	98	Tribal entities that— 3
99	99	(i) are successfully administering the 4
100	100	food distribution program of the Tribal en-5
101	101	tity; 6
102	102	(ii) have the capacity to purchase ag-7
103	103	ricultural commodities in accordance with 8
104	104	paragraph (4) for the food distribution 9
105	105	program of the Tribal entity; and 10
106	106	(iii) meet any other criteria deter-11
107	107	mined by the Secretary, in consultation 12
108	108	with the Secretary of the Interior and 13
109	109	Tribal entities. 14
110	110	(4) P
111	111	ROCUREMENT OF AGRICULTURAL COM -15
112	112	MODITIES.—Any agricultural commodities purchased 16
113	113	by a Tribal entity under the demonstration project 17
114	114	shall— 18
115	115	(A) be domestically produced; 19
116	116	(B) not result in a material increase in the 20
117	117	amount of food in the food package of that 21
118	118	Tribal entity compared to the amount of food 22
119	119	that the Secretary authorized to be provided 23
120	120	through the CSFP Guide Rate; 24
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123	123	•HR 2236 IH
124	124	(C) be of similar or higher nutritional 1
125	125	value as the type of agricultural commodities 2
126	126	that would be supplanted in the existing food 3
127	127	package for that Tribal entity or be an agricul-4
128	128	tural commodity with Tribal significance to that 5
129	129	Tribal entity; and 6
130	130	(D) meet any other criteria determined by 7
131	131	the Secretary. 8
132	132	(5) R
133	133	EPORT.—Not later than 1 year after the 9
134	134	date on which funds are appropriated under para-10
135	135	graph (6), and annually thereafter, the Secretary 11
136	136	shall submit to the Committee on Agriculture of the 12
137	137	House of Representatives and the Committee on Ag-13
138	138	riculture, Nutrition, and Forestry of the Senate a 14
139	139	report describing the activities carried out under the 15
140	140	demonstration project during the preceding year. 16
141	141	(6) F
142	142	UNDING.— 17
143	143	(A) A
144	144	UTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIA -18
145	145	TIONS.—There is authorized to be appropriated 19
146	146	to the Secretary to carry out this subsection 20
147	147	$5,000,000, to remain available until expended. 21
148	148	(B) A
149	149	PPROPRIATIONS IN ADVANCE .—With 22
150	150	respect to any funds made available under sub-23
151	151	paragraph (A), only funds appropriated in ad-24
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154	154	•HR 2236 IH
155	155	vance specifically to carry out this subsection 1
156	156	shall be available to carry out this subsection. 2
157	157	(b) A
158	158	DMINISTRATION OFTRIBALSELF-DETERMINA-3
159	159	TIONCONTRACTS.— 4
160	160	(1) A
161	161	DMINISTRATION.—The Secretary shall ap-5
162	162	point an existing office of the Department of Agri-6
163	163	culture to administer Tribal self-determination con-7
164	164	tracts, including— 8
165	165	(A) awarding of FNS nutrition program 9
166	166	self-determination contracts to selected Tribal 10
167	167	entities; and 11
168	168	(B) hiring contract officers and program 12
169	169	staff in order to manage the selection of Tribal 13
170	170	entities and execution of self-determination con-14
171	171	tracts. 15
172	172	(2) S
173	173	TAFFING MINIMUM FUNDING .—Notwith-16
174	174	standing any other provision of law, there is author-17
175	175	ized to be appropriated to the Secretary $1,200,000 18
176	176	for each of fiscal years 2026 through 2029 for the 19
177	177	payment of Department contract officers and pro-20
178	178	gram staff salaries and benefits. 21
179	179	Æ
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