S 2578 — A bill to amend the Emergency Food Assistance Act of 1983 to allow certain States to directly purchase commodities, and for other purposes.

(a) In general Notwithstanding any other provision of law, in order to complement the domestic nutrition programs, make maximum use of the Nation’s agricultural abundance, and expand and improve the domestic distribution of price-supported commodities, commodities acquired by the Commodity Credit Corporation that the Secretary of Agriculture (hereinafter referred to as the “Secretary”) determines, in his discretion, are in excess of quantities needed to— (1) carry out other domestic donation programs, (2) meet other domestic obligations (including quantities needed to carry out a payment-in-kind acreage diversion program), (3) meet international market development and food aid commitments, and (4) carry out the farm price and income stabilization purposes of the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1938 [7 U.S.C. 1281 et seq.], the Agricultural Act of 1949 [7 U.S.C. 1421 et seq.], and the Commodity Credit Corporation Charter Act [15 U.S.C. 714 et seq.], shall be made available by the Secretary, without charge or credit for such commodities, for use by eligible recipient agencies for food assistance. (b) Repealed. Pub. L. 99–198, title XV, § 1565(a)(2), Dec. 23, 1985, 99 Stat. 1591 (c) Additional commodities In addition to any commodities described in subsection (a), in carrying out this chapter, the Secretary may use agricultural commodities and the products thereof made available under clause (2) of the second sentence of section 612c of this title. (d) Varieties of commodities Commodities made available under this chapter shall include a variety of commodities and products thereof that are most useful to eligible recipient agencies, including, but not be 1 limited to, dairy products, wheat or the products thereof, rice, honey, and cornmeal. (e) Report to Congress Effective April 1, 1986, the Secretary shall submit semiannually to the Committee on Agriculture of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry of the Senate a report on the types and amounts of commodities made available for distribution under this chapter. (f) Relation to other programs Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the programs authorized by section 713a–14 of title 15 2 and section 1163 of the Food Security Act of 1985 shall not be operated in a manner that will, in any way, reduce the quantities of dairy products that traditionally are made available to carry out this chapter or any other domestic feeding program. (g) Donations to emergency feeding organizations (1) Whenever commodities acquired by the Commodity Credit Corporation are made available for donation to domestic food programs in quantities that exceed Federal obligations, the Secretary shall give equal consideration to making donations of such commodities to emergency feeding organizations participating in the program authorized by this chapter as is given to other commodity recipient agencies, taking into account the types and amounts of commodities available and appropriate for distribution to these organizations. (2) In determining the commodities that will be made available to emergency feeding organizations under this chapter, the Secretary may distribute commodities that become available on a seasonal or irregular basis. (h) Kosher and Halal food As soon as practicable after February 7, 2014, the Secretary shall finalize and implement a plan— (1) to increase the purchase of Kosher and Halal food from food manufacturers with a Kosher or Halal certification to carry out the program established under this chapter if the Kosher and Halal food purchased is cost neutral as compared to food that is not from food manufacturers with a Kosher or Halal certification; and (2) to modify the labeling of the commodities list used to carry out the program in a manner that enables Kosher and Halal distribution entities to identify which commodities to obtain from local food banks.