Sponsors
The bill secures dedicated funding to improve shrimp safety, combat forced labor/IUU imports, and promote U.S. shrimp, but does so by redirecting tariff revenue (which may raise consumer prices), reducing congressional control over those receipts, and risking market distortions from USDA purchasing.
Consumers (including middle‑class families) gain stronger seafood safety checks because FDA receives dedicated funding to inspect and test imported shrimp for unapproved antibiotics.
Taxpayers benefit from stronger oversight against forced labor and illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing through funded coordination between FDA, Commerce, and CBP.
Taxpayers and program managers get a predictable funding stream because the bill dedicates 70% of specified shrimp duties to a Fund that supports inspection, promotion, and related programs.
Taxpayers as a whole effectively forgo general‑fund tariff revenue because 70% of covered shrimp duties are redirected to the dedicated Fund instead of general federal spending.
Middle‑class families and small seafood buyers may face higher shrimp prices if tariffs remain in place to finance the Fund, raising grocery and restaurant costs.
Redirecting tariff receipts into agency programs reduces Congress's annual appropriations control over that spending, potentially weakening legislative oversight.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Directs 70% of shrimp import tariff receipts into a Treasury fund split 50/50 for FDA inspection/anti-forced-labor work and USDA domestic shrimp promotion starting FY2026.
Creates a dedicated Treasury fund that receives transfers equal to 70% of tariff-duty receipts on imported shrimp and shrimp products beginning in FY2026. The fund is split equally: half is available to HHS/FDA for inspection, testing, importer inspections, training, capacity building, analytics, and interagency coordination (including with DOC and CBP) to address unapproved antibiotic residues and forced labor/illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing concerns; the other half is available to USDA to promote domestic shrimp consumption under existing section 32 authority. Funds remain available until expended and must supplement, not supplant, existing federal funding.
Introduced January 16, 2025 by Clay Higgins · Last progress January 16, 2025