WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Jerry Moran (R-Kan.), Bob Casey (D-Penn.) John Boozman (R-Ark.) and Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) urged Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue to continue to support international food assistance programs during the COVID-19 pandemic. International food assistance programs support American producers and supply food for populations around the world that are vulnerable to hunger and starvation.

The letter specifically urges continued support for USAID’s Food for Peace and USDA’s McGovern-Dole Food for Education to make certain these programs continue to deliver food aid to countries even as markets are disrupted and the virus spreads.

“The U.S. food and agricultural trading system must remain open for business and well-functioning during this period; so too must our food aid programs,” the Senators wrote. “Even in the face of disruptions to the lives of civil servants at USDA and USAID around the world, we must ensure that these programs are efficiently and effectively administered and that program funds are promptly obligated. While the full extent of market disruptions and impacts on vulnerable populations produced by COVID-19 are yet to be seen, humanitarian organizations that deliver this American generosity are already pre-positioning food in high-priority areas around the world. We should be taking every possible step to ensure they are able to perform this and other tasks expeditiously and with sufficient resources.”

The full letter can be found here or below.

The Honorable Sonny Perdue                                              
Secretary of Agriculture                                                        
U.S. Department of Agriculture                                             
1400 Independence Avenue NW                                          
Washington, D.C. 20250

                                                     
The Honorable Michael Pompeo
Secretary of State
U.S. Department of State
2201 C Street NW
Washington, D.C. 20230

Dear Secretaries Perdue and Pompeo,

As COVID-19 continues to spread here at home and around the world, it is increasingly clear that we are experiencing a global health emergency on an unprecedented scale that threatens global economic prosperity. The novel coronavirus especially threatens to frustrate efforts to reduce global hunger, rolling back hard-fought gains from the past decade and exacerbating already troubling trends in the last three years. This will ultimately have direct impacts on the economic and security interests of the United States.

Ensuring an adequate supply of food requires farmers to remain in their fields, food processors to keep their facilities running, trucks to remain on the road, ports to remain open, and consumers to keep educated. While we take steps to ensure these things in our own country, we must also support others internationally to do the same, especially in low-income countries. What we learned from the 2007/8 global food price crisis was that export restrictions, market speculation and panic buying only served to put food further out of reach for vulnerable populations. We are not protected against these same inclinations today and must remain diligent to avoid them.

Today, 821 million people around the world suffer from undernourishment and over 100 million are facing immediate, life-threatening hunger. Global food security depends on countries like ours accessing and responding to global markets—this is especially true in a crisis like the one we’re facing now. The U.S. exports about $140 billion worth of agricultural products each year. American farmers are inextricably linked by global markets and, by extension, to the wellbeing of people everywhere.

Even in the best of times, though, there are inevitable food supply chain breaks and other market disruptions that occur around the world. In these events, American-produced commodities are also purchased and distributed internationally as food aid. For the better part of 70 years, the United States has provided this humanitarian support to billions of people in need, helping save countless lives.

Every major disease outbreak in recent memory has had negative impacts on food security. If not handled properly, COVID-19 threatens to break critical food supply chains, produce food shortages and drive up the price of food in many markets. In developing countries where people spend more than half of their income on food and rely heavily on food imports, the risk is especially great. It is in these same places that undernourishment is already most prevalent, healthcare infrastructure most limited, and social safety nets most lacking. As we’ve learned from other infectious diseases like Ebola and HIV, nutrition plays a large role in survivability and staving off infection.

Perhaps most devastating to vulnerable, food insecure populations around the world is the impact that COVID-19 will have on economies. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development has already cut its projections for global GDP growth this year from 3 percent to 1.5 percent based on the virus’ impact. Researchers at the International Food Policy Research Institute are estimating that this economic slowdown could force another 20 to 30 million people into extreme poverty. In the case of major disruptions to global trade, food export from sub-Saharan Africa may fall by as much as 25 percent, threatening agricultural livelihoods.

We can help to protect against this, in part, by providing high-quality U.S.-grown commodities like wheat, sorghum, soybeans, corn, or rice to people suffering from hunger and living in places where markets aren’t properly functioning or able to meet demand. This is why, each year, we support robust funding for critical international food assistance programs, including USAID’s Food for Peace and USDA’s McGovern-Dole Food for Education. With depressed U.S. commodity prices, these humanitarian exports help American farmers, while also feeding a hungry world.

The U.S. food and agricultural trading system must remain open for business and well-functioning during this period; so too must our food aid programs. Even in the face of disruptions to the lives of civil servants at USDA and USAID around the world, we must ensure that these programs are efficiently and effectively administered and that program funds are promptly obligated. While the full extent of market disruptions and impacts on vulnerable populations produced by COVID-19 are yet to be seen, humanitarian organizations that deliver this American generosity are already pre-positioning food in high-priority areas around the world. We should be taking every possible step to ensure they are able to perform this and other tasks expeditiously and with sufficient resources.

As the Co-Chairs of the National Security Advisory Council of the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition, Admiral James Stavridis (Ret.) and General Tony Zinni (Ret.) write, “No matter how successful we are fighting COVID19 pandemic at home, we'll never stop it unless we're also fighting it around the world.” United States food aid programs build stronger markets and more stable societies, helping countries get back on their feet to become U.S. trading partners again. They also provide a market for American farmers and their families right now when they need it most. What a great opportunity it is when our interests as a nation align with what is morally right. 

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WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) – chairman of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies – today announced the Executive Office of the State of Kansas will receive a $6 million grant from the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) through the Phase III Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act to be used to support Kansas Law Enforcement.

“Law enforcement officers across our state continue to put on their uniform each day and do their part in keeping our communities safe during COVID-19,” said Sen. Moran. “I urged the DOJ to move quickly to distribute Phase III funding to our first responders, and I am pleased to see they have successfully implemented an expedited awards process that will make certain resources reach Kansas law enforcement who play a critical role in responding to this pandemic.”

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WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) – chairman and ranking member of the Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Manufacturing, Trade, and Consumer Protection, with jurisdiction over the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) – called on the FTC to clarify its enforcement authority to protect consumers during the COVID-19 pandemic. While the FTC has taken steps against pandemic-related scams and fraud, the Commission has not taken action on price gouging or clarified its enforcement authority over price gouging.

“The acute demand for medical and health supplies, including personal protective equipment (PPE), spurred by an unprecedented public health crisis presents extraordinary circumstances and requires vigilance for the wellbeing of consumers,” the senators wrote. “Consumers, especially those who are medically at-risk or essential workers must protect themselves with PPE and sanitary items, such as face masks and disinfectants. When these basic health products are inappropriately priced, consumers face extreme obstacles to protecting their health – especially as they face new financial pressures and dwindling supply of these types of goods. As the magnitude of the COVID-19 pandemic became apparent, many pro-consumer companies stepped up and devoted considerable resources to the fight. Regrettably, however, some vendors instead sought to take advantage of the crisis through hoarding common, inexpensive products – now in scarce supply – to charge artificially inflated prices.”

The Senators pointed to the “powerful set of tools” the agency was given to protect consumers when it was created by Congress, in particular the FTC Act’s prohibition on “unfair or deceptive acts or practices in or affecting commerce,” which empowers it to seek injunctions and further equitable relief to enforce the law.

The Senators emphasized the need for the FTC to provide clear public guidance into its power, affirm when it would be exercised, and asked if any resources would be helpful in facilitating the agency’s action against cases of price gouging.

The full letter is below and here.

April 14, 2020

Dear Chairman Simons:

As the Chairman and Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation’s Subcommittee on Manufacturing, Trade, and Consumer Protection, we believe the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has a duty to prevent unscrupulous and harmful commercial practices taken by bad actors against consumers during the current coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19). We write to request that the FTC provide an overview on its full scope of authority to protect consumers against unfair and deceptive acts related to price gouging on critical consumer health products during the pandemic.

The acute demand for medical and health supplies, including personal protective equipment (PPE), spurred by an unprecedented public health crisis presents extraordinary circumstances and requires vigilance for the wellbeing of consumers. Consumers, especially those who are medically at-risk or essential workers must protect themselves with PPE and sanitary items, such as face masks and disinfectants. When these basic health products are inappropriately priced, consumers face extreme obstacles to protecting their health – especially as they face new financial pressures and dwindling supply of these types of goods. As the magnitude of the COVID-19 pandemic became apparent, many pro-consumer companies stepped up and devoted considerable resources to the fight. Regrettably, however, some vendors instead sought to take advantage of the crisis through hoarding common, inexpensive products – now in scarce supply – to charge artificially inflated prices.

When Congress created the FTC, it granted the Commission a powerful set of tools to protect consumers. Section 5 (a) of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Act (15 U.S.C. Sec. 45(a)(1)) prohibits “unfair or deceptive acts or practices in or affecting commerce” and empowers the FTC to seek injunctions and further equitable relief to enforce the law. By statute, an act or practice is unfair where it: 1.) causes or is likely to cause substantial injury to consumers; 2.) cannot be reasonably avoided by consumers; and 3.) is not outweighed by countervailing benefits to consumers or to competition. While the FTC has considered price gouging in the context of competition and antitrust laws, there is less information on the application of “unfair or deceptive acts or practices” and other consumer protection rules to price gouging.

The FTC should be just as vigilant as ever during the COVID-19 pandemic, and while the Defense Production Act and the recent Executive Order signed by the President provide clear authorities to the Department of Justice to pursue criminal enforcement actions against bad actors found to use hoarding as a price gouging tactic related to certain designated critical supplies, we believe that the FTC should provide clarity to the public on what its current enforcement authorities include as it relates to price gouging. As the Chairman and Ranking Member of the Subcommittee with oversight responsibility for the FTC, we request answers to the following questions: 

1.)   Does the Commission have authority to bring enforcement actions against price gouging under the FTC Act’s prohibition of “unfair or deceptive acts or practices,” or any other consumer protection or competition rule under its purview?

2.)   Under what circumstances does the FTC believe price gouging or other artificial price increases during a pandemic would give rise to an FTC enforcement action?

3.)   Bearing in mind other existing federal and state[3] price gouging prohibitions, are there certain categories of consumer goods that the FTC’s enforcement authorities should be focused on or limited to?

4.)   If the Commission believes its authority is inappropriately limited, what clarification, authorities, or resources would be necessary to bring enforcement actions against cases of price gouging?

Thank you for your attention to this important matter.

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WASHINGTON – This week, U.S. Senator Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) joined a letter to the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue calling on the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to extend assistance to the dairy industry, which has been severely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Large sectors of the U.S. economy have closed due to COVID-19, including long-existing markets for U.S. dairy producers. This standstill has left dairy farmers with an excess of products that were originally intended for the food service industry and no means to get their milk, butter, cheese and yogurt into the hands of consumers.

The letter requests USDA to utilize agriculture assistance provisions in the Phase III Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act to provide stability to the dairy industry and prevent a collapse in dairy prices.

“In this case assistance for the dairy industry adds up to both help for farmers and nutritious food for the entire country,” wrote the senators. “Support for Americans suddenly in need of food assistance is a national priority at this time of need. Economic stability for the dairy industry will help ensure that a stable and abundant food supply is available to the public at reasonable prices now and long into the future.”

Sen. Moran was joined by U.S. Senators Jim Risch (R-Idaho), Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), Cory Gardner (R-Colo.), Todd Young (R-Ind.), Martha McSally (R-Ariz.), Mike Rounds (R-S.D.), Mike Braun (R-Ind.), Mitt Romney (R-Utah), Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), John Cornyn (R-Texas), Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), John Thune (R-N.D.), Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), and Steve Daines (R-Mont.).

The full letter is below and here.

April 13, 2020

Dear Secretary Perdue: 

We thank you for the tremendous amount of time and effort you and the entire team at the U.S. Department of Agriculture are bringing to the policy table so that farmers can survive and Americans can keep food on their kitchen table. Our farmers and ranchers are doing their part to help the nation navigate the effort to contain the COVID-19 outbreak. Your work is providing valuable assistance in that partnership you so often refer to in your motto to “Do Right and Feed Everyone.”

The Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act passed by Congress and signed into law on March 27th includes several provisions for assistance to agriculture. While few sectors of the economy have been spared from the economic impacts of the heroic efforts of Americans to contain the spread of the coronavirus, perhaps none have experienced the loss of markets to the degree of the U.S. dairy industry. For example, products typically sold to dine-in restaurants, that nearly all have closed due to social distancing requirements, are backing up in warehouses and much of the farm milk used to make those products no longer has a market.

Farm milk prices are on the verge of collapse due to this shift in consumer demand. Dairy producers who, just a few weeks ago were looking at the prospect of the first promising year in more than five, are now in the most economic difficulty in memory.

In this case assistance for the dairy industry adds up to both help for farmers and nutritious food for the entire country. Support for Americans suddenly in need of food assistance is a national priority at this time of need. Economic stability for the dairy industry will help ensure that a stable and abundant food supply is available to the public at reasonable prices now and long into the future. 

The Congress provided several ways in the CARES Act to help the dairy industry. We urge you to develop strong measures to help mitigate the current market upheaval so that the dairy industry can survive this crisis.

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