A bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers has asked the U.S. Department of Agriculture to allocate specific funding to protect essential agricultural workers as the agency implements agricultural provisions from H.R.133 — the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021.
The Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021 directed the Secretary of Agriculture to use at least $1.5 billion to purchase and distribute agricultural products and to provide grants and loans to protect agricultural workers from COVID-19.
On Jan. 4, the USDA announced its plans to spend $1.5 billion in a fifth round of the Farmers to Families Food Box Program, but the Department has not yet committed to spending additional funds on agricultural worker safety, according to a news release.
“Our agricultural workers risk their health and safety every day to continue to put food on America’s dinner table,” Rep. Jim Costa, D-Calif., said in the release.
Other representatives among the 70 lawmakers joining Costa in the letter to USDA include Jimmy Panetta, D-Calif., Salud Carbajal, D-Calif., Dan Newhouse, R-Wash., Doug LaMalfa, D-Calif., and Fred Upton, R-Mich.
“Our agricultural workers risk their health and safety every day to continue to put food on America’s dinner table,” Costa said in the release. “I fought to include stronger worker protections for these essential workers in this bill, and the Trump administration must act swiftly to defend our agricultural workforce from the daily threats of this virus.”
Panetta said in the release that Congress must procure the necessary funding in the pandemic relief packages to help protect the health and safety of that agricultural workforce.
“That’s why my colleagues and I will continue to work together on a bipartisan basis, not just to secure that funding, but also to ensure that the USDA does its job and uses that funding to keep our agriculture workers safe and our food supply secure,” he said in the release.
Lawmakers are now urging the USDA to implement the language from the recent COVID-19 relief bill and prioritize funding for measures that ensure agricultural workers have the protections..
“Central Washington’s agricultural community was hit hard by COVID-19,” Newhouse said in the release. “Our farmers and ranchers have been working around the clock to protect their employees from this virus, but they need help. Agriculture workers are essential — to our communities, to keeping food on our tables, to ensuring a strong food supply chain throughout our country. I worked to include federal funding that will help keep these hardworking men and women safe and healthy, and now we must deliver.”
