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[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 4654 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
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119th CONGRESS
2d Session
S. 4654
To amend the Agricultural Trade Act of 1978 to expand agricultural
market access, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
June 2, 2026
Mr. Schiff introduced the following bill; which was read twice and
referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To amend the Agricultural Trade Act of 1978 to expand agricultural
market access, 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 ``Expanding Market Access Act''.
SEC. 2. AGRICULTURAL TRADE PROMOTION AND FACILITATION.
(a) Modification to Foreign Market Development Cooperator
Program.--Section 203(c) of the Agricultural Trade Act of 1978 (7
U.S.C. 5623(c)) is amended by adding at the end the following new
paragraph:
``(4) Technical assistance to improve infrastructure in
foreign markets for united states agricultural commodities.--
``(A) In general.--As part of the program
established under this subsection, the Secretary shall
enter into contracts or other agreements, with eligible
trade organizations or with nonprofit organizations
with expertise in supply chain infrastructure, to
provide needs assessments, training, and other
technical assistance to enhance the capabilities of
infrastructure in new and developing foreign markets,
including infrastructure relating to cold chain
capacity, port improvements, and other developments, to
ensure that United States agricultural commodities are
not damaged or lost due to deficiencies of such
infrastructure.
``(B) Limitation.--Of the amounts made available to
carry out the program established under this
subsection, not more than $1,500,000 for fiscal year
2027 and not more than $5,000,000 for fiscal year 2028
and each fiscal year thereafter may be made available
to carry out this paragraph.''.
(b) Report on Competitiveness of United States Specialty Crops.--
Section 203(e)(7) of the Agricultural Trade Act of 1978 (7 U.S.C.
5623(e)(7)) is amended to read as follows:
``(7) Biennial report.--
``(A) In general.--The Secretary, in consultation
with the United States Trade Representative, shall
submit every 2 years to the appropriate congressional
committees a report detailing the competitiveness of
United States specialty crops.
``(B) Elements.--The report required by
subparagraph (A) shall--
``(i) identify and analyze acts, policies,
or practices of foreign countries that
constitute significant barriers to, or
distortions of, United States exports of
specialty crops, including the imposition of--
``(I) tariffs (including
retaliatory tariffs) or quotas
(including tariff-rate quotas); and
``(II) nontariff barriers,
including technical barriers to trade,
sanitary and phytosanitary measures,
import licensing procedures, and
subsidies;
``(ii) identify acts, policies, or
practices of foreign countries that enhance the
competitiveness of imported specialty crops
with domestic specialty crop producers;
``(iii) identify and analyze any
differences in applicable food safety
regulations of foreign countries that may
result in imported specialty crops posing a
risk to United States consumers;
``(iv) make an estimate of the impacts on
the competitiveness of United States specialty
crops of any act, policy, or practice
identified under clauses (i) and (ii);
``(v) assess the extent to which each act,
policy, or practice identified under clauses
(i) and (ii) are subject to international
agreements to which the United States is a
party;
``(vi) include information with respect to
any action taken by the executive or
legislative branch during the 2 years preceding
submission of the report, or expected to be
taken after submission of the report, to
eliminate any act, policy, or practice
identified under clauses (i) and (ii),
including--
``(I) any action under section 301;
``(II) negotiations or
consultations with foreign governments,
which may include engagement through
the standing committee on sanitary and
phytosanitary matters established under
a free trade agreement to which the
United States is a party; and
``(III) action at the World Trade
Organization, including dispute
settlement actions, consultations, or
negotiations; and
``(vii) a description of--
``(I) any funds provided under
subsection (f)(3)(A)(iv) that were not
obligated in the fiscal year preceding
submission of the report; and
``(II) the reason such funds were
not obligated.
``(C) Comment period.--In preparing the report
required by subparagraph (A), the Secretary, in
coordination with the United States Trade
Representative, shall seek and consider comments from
the public and from the Agricultural Technical Advisory
Committee for Trade in Fruits and Vegetables.
``(D) Form of report.--The report required by
subparagraph (A) shall be made available to the public
in machine-readable format.
``(E) Appropriate congressional committees
defined.--In this paragraph, the term `appropriate
congressional committees' means--
``(i) the Committee on Agriculture and the
Committee on Ways and Means of the House of
Representatives; and
``(ii) the Committee on Agriculture,
Nutrition, and Forestry and the Committee on
Finance of the Senate.''.
(c) Modification and Extension of Funding.--Section 203(f) of the
Agricultural Trade Act of 1978 (7 U.S.C. 5623(f)) is amended--
(1) by amending paragraph (2) to read as follows:
``(2) Funding amount.--Of the funds of, or an equal value
of commodities owned by, the Commodity Credit Corporation, the
Secretary shall use to carry out this section the following
amounts, to remain available until expended:
``(A) For fiscal year 2026, $255,000,000.
``(B) For fiscal year 2027, $500,000,000.
``(C) For each of fiscal years 2028 through 2031,
$533,000,000.''; and
(2) in paragraph (3)(A)--
(A) in the matter preceding clause (i), by striking
``For each of fiscal years 2019 through 2023, the
Secretary'' and inserting ``The Secretary'';
(B) in clause (i), by striking ``not less than''
and all that follows through the end and inserting the
following: ``not less than--
``(I) $200,000,000 for fiscal year
2026;
``(II) $400,000,000 for fiscal year
2027; and
``(III) $410,000,000 for each of
fiscal years 2028 through 2031.'';
(C) in clause (ii), by striking ``not less than''
and all that follows through the end and inserting the
following: ``not less than--
``(I) $34,500,000 for fiscal year
2026;
``(II) $70,500,000 for fiscal year
2027; and
``(III) $82,000,000 for each of
fiscal years 2028 through 2031.'';
(D) in clause (iii), by striking ``not more than''
and all that follows through the end and inserting the
following: ``not more than--
``(I) $8,000,000 for each of fiscal
years 2026 and 2027; and
``(II) $16,000,000 for each of
fiscal years 2028 through 2031.'';
(E) in clause (iv), by striking ``Corporation'' and
all that follows through the end and inserting the
following: ``Corporation--
``(I) $9,000,000 for fiscal year
2026; and
``(II) $18,000,000 for each of
fiscal years 2027 through 2031.''; and
(F) in clause (v)(I), by striking ``commodities,''
and all that follows through the end and inserting the
following: ``commodities--
``(aa) $3,500,000 for each
of fiscal years 2026 and 2027;
and
``(bb) $7,000,000 for each
of fiscal years 2028 through
2031.''.
(d) Repeals.--The following provisions of law are repealed:
(1) Section 718 of title VII of the Agriculture, Rural
Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies
Appropriations Act, 1999 (as enacted by section 101(a) of
division A of Public Law 105-277; 7 U.S.C. 5623 note).
(2) Section 10602 of Public Law 119-21 (7 U.S.C. 5623a).
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