States like Hawaii, Alaska, and U.S. territories face unique challenges getting emergency food assistance because they're far from the mainland supply chain. Under current law, the federal government buys commodities centrally and ships them out, which can be slow and expensive for remote locations. This bill would let eligible states and territories opt to receive their share of emergency food funding as cash instead, so they can buy food directly through local or regional suppliers. That could mean fresher food, faster delivery, and lower shipping costs for food banks and pantries in those areas.
Congressional Summary
This bill allows a state to receive cash funds under The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP) to directly purchase agricultural commodities through the private commercial marketplace.TEFAP is a federal program that helps supplement the diets of people with low income by providing them with emergency food assistance at no cost. Through TEFAP, the Department of Agriculture (USDA) purchases a variety of commodities and makes those food products (e.g., canned, frozen, dried, and fresh fruits and vegetables, eggs, meat, dairy, and whole-grain and enriched grain products) available to state distributing agencies.Specifically, the bill allows an eligible state agency to elect to receive as cash the dollar amount used by USDA to purchase the commodities to distribute to the state.
Details
- Congress
- 119th
- Chamber
- House
- Status
- summarized
- Action
- Introduced in House
- Action Date
- 2026-02-09
- Date Added
- 2026-04-09
- Source
- Congress.gov →
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