YourVoice.Now Summary
EnvironmentTransparency & AccountabilityUSDA could fund grants to fight the spotted lanternfly — most households would see no direct change.
Environment
The bill would add spotted lanternfly control to the list of subjects USDA research grants can fund. The money would go to building and sharing tools and treatments, not to farmers directly.
Transparency & Accountability
A 1990 farm law sets end dates for a group of USDA research and extension programs. The bill would change each 2023 date to 2028, so the programs would run five more years before Congress must act again.
More about this bill
Most people would notice no direct change in daily life. This is a research bill. It would let the Agriculture Department award grants aimed at one insect: the spotted lanternfly. Those grants would pay to build and share tools and treatments that fight it. The pest is an invasive insect that sucks sap from more than 70 kinds of plants. Today it is found in Pennsylvania and nearby eastern states. Grapevines, maple, and black walnut are among the plants it hits hardest. The bill would also push back the end date on a set of USDA farm research programs. Current law sets that date at 2023, which has already passed. The new date would be 2028. Nothing here changes what you pay, owe, or can do. Growers, vineyards, and orchards in infested areas would feel it first, if at all.
Congressional Summary
Spotted Lanternfly Research and Development ActThis bill includes combatting the spotted lanternfly (Lycorma delicatula) as a Department of Agriculture (USDA) high-priority research and extension area and reauthorizes other USDA research and extension initiatives.The bill specifically allows grants for developing and disseminating research-based tools and treatments to combat the spotted lanternfly, which is an invasive species native to Asia that feeds on a wide range of crops and plants (e.g., grapes, apples, hops, walnuts, and hardwood trees).Further, the bill reauthorizes USDA grants to support competitive specialized research and extension activities, including high-priority areas, through FY2028. The bill also specifically reauthorizes through FY2028the Pulse Crop Health Initiative;the Comprehensive Food Safety Training Network;pollinator protection research and extension grants;increased USDA capacity and infrastructure to address and conduct research on colony collapse disorder and other pollinator issues; anda USDA-conducted nationwide honey bee pest, pathogen, health, and population status surveillance program.
Details
- Congress
- 119th
- Chamber
- Senate
- Status
- summarized
- Action
- Introduced in Senate
- Action Date
- 2026-07-30
- Date Added
- 2026-08-19
- Source
- Congress.gov →
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