I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 2236
To direct the Secretary of Agriculture to carry out a demonstration project
to allow Tribal entities to purchase agricultural commodities under the
commodity supplemental food program, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MARCH18, 2025
Mr. V
ASQUEZintroduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Agriculture
A BILL
To direct the Secretary of Agriculture to carry out a dem-
onstration project to allow Tribal entities to purchase
agricultural commodities under the commodity supple-
mental food program, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Healthy Foods for Na-4
tive Seniors Act’’. 5
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SEC. 2. COMMODITY SUPPLEMENTAL FOOD PROGRAM 1
DEMONSTRATION PROJECT FOR TRIBAL OR-2
GANIZATIONS. 3
(a) D
EMONSTRATIONPROJECT FORTRIBALORGANI-4
ZATIONS.— 5
(1) D
EFINITIONS.—In this subsection: 6
(A) D
EMONSTRATION PROJECT .—The term 7
‘‘demonstration project’’ means the demonstra-8
tion project established under paragraph (2). 9
(B) F
OOD DISTRIBUTION PROGRAM .—The 10
term ‘‘food distribution program’’ means the 11
commodity supplemental food program under 12
section 4 of the Agriculture and Consumer Pro-13
tection Act of 1973 (7 U.S.C. 612c note). 14
(C) I
NDIAN RESERVATION.—The term ‘‘In-15
dian reservation’’ has the meaning given the 16
term ‘‘reservation’’ in section 3 of the Food and 17
Nutrition Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2012). 18
(D) I
NDIAN TRIBE.—The term ‘‘Indian 19
Tribe’’ has the meaning given such term in sec-20
tion 4 of the Indian Self-Determination and 21
Education Assistance Act (25 U.S.C. 5304). 22
(E) S
ECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ 23
means the Secretary of Agriculture. 24
(F) S
ELF-DETERMINATION CONTRACT .— 25
The term ‘‘self-determination contract’’ has the 26
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meaning given such term in section 4 of the In-1
dian Self-Determination and Education Assist-2
ance Act (25 U.S.C. 5304) with modification as 3
determined by the Secretary. 4
(G) T
RIBAL ENTITY.—The term ‘‘Tribal 5
entity’’ means— 6
(i) an Indian reservation; 7
(ii) an Indian Tribe; and 8
(iii) a Tribal organization. 9
(H) T
RIBAL ORGANIZATION .—The term 10
‘‘Tribal organization’’ has the meaning given 11
such term in section 3 of the Food and Nutri-12
tion Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2012). 13
(2) E
STABLISHMENT.—Subject to the avail-14
ability of appropriations, the Secretary shall estab-15
lish a demonstration project under which 1 or more 16
Tribal entities may enter into self-determination 17
contracts to purchase agricultural commodities 18
under the food distribution program for the Indian 19
reservation of that Tribal entity. 20
(3) E
LIGIBILITY.— 21
(A) C
ONSULTATION.—The Secretary shall 22
consult with Tribal entities to determine the 23
process under which each entity may participate 24
in the demonstration project. 25
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(B) CRITERIA.—The Secretary shall select 1
for participation in the demonstration project 2
Tribal entities that— 3
(i) are successfully administering the 4
food distribution program of the Tribal en-5
tity; 6
(ii) have the capacity to purchase ag-7
ricultural commodities in accordance with 8
paragraph (4) for the food distribution 9
program of the Tribal entity; and 10
(iii) meet any other criteria deter-11
mined by the Secretary, in consultation 12
with the Secretary of the Interior and 13
Tribal entities. 14
(4) P
ROCUREMENT OF AGRICULTURAL COM -15
MODITIES.—Any agricultural commodities purchased 16
by a Tribal entity under the demonstration project 17
shall— 18
(A) be domestically produced; 19
(B) not result in a material increase in the 20
amount of food in the food package of that 21
Tribal entity compared to the amount of food 22
that the Secretary authorized to be provided 23
through the CSFP Guide Rate; 24
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(C) be of similar or higher nutritional 1
value as the type of agricultural commodities 2
that would be supplanted in the existing food 3
package for that Tribal entity or be an agricul-4
tural commodity with Tribal significance to that 5
Tribal entity; and 6
(D) meet any other criteria determined by 7
the Secretary. 8
(5) R
EPORT.—Not later than 1 year after the 9
date on which funds are appropriated under para-10
graph (6), and annually thereafter, the Secretary 11
shall submit to the Committee on Agriculture of the 12
House of Representatives and the Committee on Ag-13
riculture, Nutrition, and Forestry of the Senate a 14
report describing the activities carried out under the 15
demonstration project during the preceding year. 16
(6) F
UNDING.— 17
(A) A
UTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIA -18
TIONS.—There is authorized to be appropriated 19
to the Secretary to carry out this subsection 20
$5,000,000, to remain available until expended. 21
(B) A
PPROPRIATIONS IN ADVANCE .—With 22
respect to any funds made available under sub-23
paragraph (A), only funds appropriated in ad-24
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vance specifically to carry out this subsection 1
shall be available to carry out this subsection. 2
(b) A
DMINISTRATION OFTRIBALSELF-DETERMINA-3
TIONCONTRACTS.— 4
(1) A
DMINISTRATION.—The Secretary shall ap-5
point an existing office of the Department of Agri-6
culture to administer Tribal self-determination con-7
tracts, including— 8
(A) awarding of FNS nutrition program 9
self-determination contracts to selected Tribal 10
entities; and 11
(B) hiring contract officers and program 12
staff in order to manage the selection of Tribal 13
entities and execution of self-determination con-14
tracts. 15
(2) S
TAFFING MINIMUM FUNDING .—Notwith-16
standing any other provision of law, there is author-17
ized to be appropriated to the Secretary $1,200,000 18
for each of fiscal years 2026 through 2029 for the 19
payment of Department contract officers and pro-20
gram staff salaries and benefits. 21
Æ
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