Food Security Act of 1980

(Reported to House from the Committee on Agriculture with amendment, H. Rept. 96-966 (Part II)) Food Security Act of 1980 - Declares it to be U.S. policy to develop a wheat reserve solely to provide for emergency food needs in developing countries. Directs the President, in order to carry out such policy, to establish a reserve stock of wheat of up to 4,000,000 metric tons for specified purposes. Permits stocks of wheat for such reserve to be acquired: (1) through purchases from producers or in the market, if the Secretary of Agriculture determines that such purchases will not unduly disrupt the market; and (2) by designation by the Secretary of stocks of wheat acquired by the Commodity Credit Corporation. Authorizes the President to release such designated or acquired wheat reserve stocks to provide, on a donation or sale basis, emergency food assistance to developing countries at any time that the U.S. domestic wheat supply is so limited that quantities cannot be made available for disposition, except for humanitarian purposes, under the Agricultural Trade Development and Assistance Act of 1954. Provides that up to 300,000 tons of wheat may be released from the reserve in any fiscal year for use under such Act in providing urgent humanitarian relief in developing countries which suffer major disasters (as determined by the President), in circumstances of unanticipated and exceptional need when the normal means of obtaining food assistance make timely programming impossible. Directs the President to report to the appropriate congressional committees on wheat so released and its timely replenishment. Allows such wheat to be processed in the U.S. and shipped to the recipient country as wheat flour, when necessary. Requires that such wheat be made available under such Act to meet famine or other urgent or extraordinary relief requirements, with specified provisions as to determinations of availability inapplicable thereto. Directs the Secretary to provide for reserve management as to location and class of wheat needed to meet emergencies, rotation to avoid spoilage and deterioration, and prompt equivalent replacement of removed quantities. Specifies that stocks of wheat shall not: (1) be considered a part of the total domestic supply (including carryover) for certain purposes; or (2) be subject to any quantitative export limitations under the Export Administration Act of 1979. Directs the Secretary to utilize the funds and authorities of the Commodity Credit Corporation in carrying out this Act, except that any restrictions applicable to the acquisition, storage, or disposition of Corporation owned or controlled commodities shall not apply to wheat for or in the reserve. Requires that the Corporation be reimbursed for actual costs under such program. Declares final any determination by the President or the Secretary under this Act. Provides that: (1) this Act shall take effect on October 1, 1980; (2) the authority to replace stocks of wheat shall expire on September 30, 1983; and (3) any wheat in the reserve when such authority expires shall be disposed of by release for use in providing for emergency food needs in developing countries as provided in this Act. Directs the Secretary to report annually to the appropriate committees of Congress the costs involved in establishing, maintaining, and operating such reserve. Amends the Food and Agriculture Act of 1977 to require the Secretary of Agriculture to set the loan level at 90 percent of the parity price for any specified agricultural commodities in which export sales have been suspended (presently such loan levels are set only when export sales are suspended due to short supplies). Stipulates that the loan level shall be at least the average market price for the 15 marketing days preceding the suspension of exports of such commodities for national security or foreign policy reasons. Directs the Secretary to ascertain that Government purchases of such commodities include acquisition of quantities of like classes of the particular commodities proportionate to the quantities of those classes for which sales were suspended.

Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Reported to House amended, Part II" stage on June 25, 1980. It describes the bill, it is not the legal text.

Every answer above is assembled from this measure's own record on Congress.gov and from published counts of what Congress has passed before. Civibrief does not predict outcomes and takes no position on any measure.