U.S. Senator Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) and 81 of his fellow senators on Wednesday passed legislation that included a Sullivan amendment to close a loophole allowing Chinese seafood, or Russian seafood laundered through China, to be purchased by the National School Lunch Program (NSLP). Sullivan previously championed a “Buy American” provision in the 2018 Farm Bill that requires the NSLP to only purchase domestically landed and processed fish, but School Food Authorities (SFAs) have been given discretion to bypass this requirement when a foreign bid costs less than a domestic bid. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has already put forward a rule to limit SFAs’ discretion to buy foreign-sourced seafood to just five percent of their purchasing budget, but Sullivan’s amendment removes that discretion entirely.
“In 2018, we fought for and delivered a ‘Buy American’ provision in the Farm Bill to give our students fresh, delicious, sustainable seafood caught by American fishermen,” said Sen. Sullivan. “Unfortunately, a loophole allows National School Lunch Program purchasers to keep buying foreign fish—possibly even Russian-sourced fish breaded and pumped with phosphates in China that we thought we’d already banned—if they can demonstrate it saves even one percent of the cost relative to domestic fish. This has to end once and for all. ‘Buy American’ should mean ‘Buy American.’ I want to thank my colleagues who’ve joined me in standing up for our fishermen, our coastal communities, and our children in Alaska and throughout the country.”
The legislation, including Sullivan’s amendment, now goes to the House for consideration.