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1 1 (January 13, 2022)

handle is hein.crs/govefcz0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Congressional Research Service S January 13, 2022 International Food Assistance and Agricultural Cargo Preference The United States is the largest provider of international food assistance globally. Approximately 40% of funding for such assistance in FY2020 (the most recent year for which comprehensive data are available) was used for the provision of food grown in the United States, referred to as U.S. in-kind assistance, to countries in need. Such commodities are subject to U.S.-flag shipping requirements in the Cargo Preference Act of 1954 (P.L. 83-664), as amended. Cargo preference requirements long have been controversial and the subject of considerable debate, both in Congress and throughout the food assistance stakeholder community. International Food Assistance U.S. international food assistance programs are administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA's) Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) or the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). Programs that provide U.S. in-kind food assistance include Food for Peace (FFP) Title II, Bill Emerson Humanitarian Trust, Food for Progress, and McGovern-Dole International Food for Education and Child Nutrition. Table 1 lists each in- kind international food assistance program, the statutory authority, and the administering agency. USDA's Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) procures commodities for all U.S. in-kind food assistance programs, regardless of which agency administers the program. Table I. In-Kind U.S. International Food Assistance Programs Statutory Administering Program Authority Agency Food For Peace Food for Peace USAID Title II Act (P.L. 83- 480) Bill Emerson Agricultural USDA Humanitarian Act of 1980 Trust (BEHT) (P.L. 96-494) Food for Progress Food Security USDA Act of 1985 (P.L. 99-198) McGovern-Dole Farm Security USDA International and Rural Food for Investment Act Education and of 2002 (P.L. Child Nutrition 107-171) Source: Compiled by CRS. Cargo Preference Legislative Authority The Cargo Preference Act of 1954 (P.L. 83-664), as amended, mandates that at least 50% of the gross tonnage of U.S. government-financed cargoes must ship on U.S.- flag vessels. Since its passage, Congress has amended the Cargo Preference Act numerous times. The 1961 amendment to the Merchant Marine Act (P.L. 87-266) required that ships eligible to transport government food- aid cargoes either must be built in the United States or, if built abroad, must have sailed under the U.S. flag for the previous three years. Congress wanted to discourage foreign-flag ships from entering the U.S. cargo preference trade only temporarily during periods when the world shipping market was oversupplied. In the Food Security Act of 1985 (P.L. 99-198), Congress increased the requirement for the share of food-aid tonnage shipped on U.S.-flag vessels from 50% to 75%. In 2012, Congress reversed its action of 1985, lowering the required share of food aid that must be carried on U.S.-flag vessels from 75% back to 50% in the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (P.L. 112-141). The Merchant Marine Act of 1970 (P.L. 91-469) empowered the Maritime Administration (MARAD) to regulate how other federal agencies are to comply with the 1954 Act in response to allegations that other agencies intentionally did not fully comply with the law or interpreted the law differently than MARAD. U.&-F®ag International Fleet Cargo preference applies to government-impelled cargoes, including in-kind aid under international food assistance programs transported via ocean freight. Qualifying U.S.- flag ships must be privately owned and employ a crew consisting of at least 75% U.S. citizens. The remaining crew must be U.S. residents. As of October 2021, there were 84 privately owned U.S.- flag ships. U.S. entities owned by foreign shipping lines control about 45 of the 84 ships in the fleet. Under U.S. shipping law, those entities qualify as documentation citizens, which are companies located in the United States and operated by U.S. citizens but with a foreign parent. Obtaining status as a U.S. business entity gives carriers with foreign parents access to the Maritime Security Program (MSP), which provides a flat per-ship operating subsidy intended to offset the higher cost of registering under the U.S. flag. In return for the subsidies, the MSP vessels are to be made available to the Department of Defense (DOD) in times of war or national emergency. These vessels are designated as militarily useful by MARAD in consultation with DOD and are funded from ittps://Crsreports.congress.gt

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