Sponsors (2)
The bill creates a targeted $50 million USDA stabilization program that channels disaster relief for farm, meat-processing, and grocery workers through unions and organizations—improving organized response capacity but risking insufficient funding, delayed or uneven direct relief to individual workers, and administrative discretion in who receives aid.
Farmworkers, meat-processing, and grocery workers receive stabilization payments after qualifying disasters, helping maintain pay or services when their workplaces are disrupted.
Farmworkers and related organizations gain access to a dedicated $50 million USDA appropriation to fund disaster response for these workforces, increasing the likelihood that resources will be available when needed.
Affected workers (farmworkers, meat-processing, grocery) are reached more quickly through member organizations and labor unions, leveraging existing representative infrastructure to distribute aid.
Farmworkers, including low-income and non-union individual workers, may not receive direct aid if funds are routed only to organizations or unions, leaving some affected workers without assistance.
A wide population of affected workers could face inadequate relief because the $50 million appropriation may be insufficient for large-scale or multiple disasters.
Farmworkers and their representatives may experience slower access to emergency support because routing aid through USDA administrative channels and organizations can delay payments versus direct emergency aid.
Based on analysis of 4 sections of legislative text.
Creates a USDA grant program to pay worker organizations and unions representing farm, meat processing, and grocery workers stabilization funds after disasters and authorizes $50M.
Introduced March 16, 2026 by Ben Ray Luján · Last progress March 16, 2026
Creates a USDA grant program to provide stabilization payments to membership organizations or labor unions that represent farmworkers, meat processing workers, and grocery workers when a natural disaster or other disaster (as defined by the Secretary of Agriculture) occurs. The program is administered by USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service, requires a report to the House and Senate Agriculture Committees within four years evaluating outcomes, and is authorized $50 million in appropriations, with funds available until expended.