Sponsors (6)
The bill delivers targeted relief to specialty crop growers and more food for nutrition programs with greater transparency, but does so through open-ended federal spending that risks increasing the deficit and could distort markets or create distributional winners and losers.
Specialty crop growers and wine producers will receive direct payments to cover losses (including higher labor/handling costs and lost export revenue), providing immediate financial relief.
Schools, SNAP recipients, and other nutrition programs will get additional food because USDA can buy surplus specialty crops for distribution to meal programs and low-income households.
Taxpayers and Congress will get more transparency through annual, crop- and region-specific reports on payments and surplus purchases through 2030.
Taxpayers will face increased federal spending due to open-ended "such sums as necessary" appropriations for FY2026–2030, which could raise the deficit or crowd out other programs.
Specialty crop producers may suffer market harm if USDA buy-ups of surpluses are large or prolonged, potentially depressing prices and distorting markets.
Growers in some crops or regions may be advantaged relative to others by the program design, creating distributional disputes and perceived unfairness among farmers and communities.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Creates a USDA direct payment program to compensate specialty crop growers and wine producers for tariff-related losses and authorizes surplus purchases for nutrition programs, funded FY2026–2030.
Creates a USDA direct payment program to compensate specialty crop growers and wine producers for losses tied to tariffs imposed on or after January 20, 2025, and allows USDA to buy surplus specialty crops (but not wine grapes) for use in federal nutrition programs. The Secretary must set up the program within 180 days of enactment, report annually to Congress through 2030, and is authorized funding as needed for FY2026–2030 with up to 1% of funds for administration.
Introduced December 5, 2025 by Michael Thompson · Last progress December 5, 2025