Republican and Democrat senators and house representatives are working together on a bill to protect American agriculture from China.
Senators Pete Ricketts (R-Neb.) and Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.) along with House Reps. Ashley Hinson (R-Iowa) and Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.) and other colleagues, introduced the Securing American Agriculture Act on March 11.
The bill calls for the secretary of agriculture to provide an annual report “of United States dependency on critical agricultural products or inputs from the People’s Republic of China…”
In addition to creating an annual report about U.S. and Chinese ag relations, the legislation mandates the secretary of agriculture take additional steps.
The ag secretary would be required to provide recommendations about how to mitigate threats from China and to act to reduce barriers to domestic input production.