HR 7144 Re-checks Congress.gov for new actions and updates the bill's status, and fills in any sponsors, committees, or related bills that are missing. It does not re-pull sponsors/cosponsors/committees/related — those rarely change — and it skips all work if nothing has changed upstream, so it's cheap to click.
To amend the Emergency Food Assistance Act of 1983 to establish a national food rescue system through partnerships with food rescue organizations.
Summary
This bill, the Food Rescue Act, amends the Emergency Food Assistance Act of 1983 to establish a national food rescue system coordinated by the Department of Agriculture. The system will identify sources of surplus food across agriculture, retail, manufacturing, and distribution sectors, and work with food rescue organizations, food banks, and local agencies to recover and distribute this food to communities experiencing food insecurity. The bill establishes a competitive grant program to support food rescue activities, including operations, transportation, storage, technology, and personnel costs. Grant applicants must submit proposals describing their projects, expected impact, participating partners, budgets, and plans for sourcing and delivering surplus food. The bill authorizes such appropriations as necessary to carry out the program.
AI-generated plain-language summary of the bill text — neutral, and may be imperfect. See the full text below for the exact wording.
Sponsor (1)
Actions (3)
- Mar 20, 2026 Referred to the Subcommittee on Nutrition and Foreign Agriculture. · house
- Jan 16, 2026 Referred to the House Committee on Agriculture. · house
- Jan 16, 2026 Introduced in House
Similar bills (6)
Bills with similar text or summary — includes reintroductions across Congresses. Ranked by semantic similarity of the bill text (computed locally); a neutral discovery aid, not a claim the bills are duplicates.
Full text
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
January 16, 2026
Mr. Torres of New York introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Agriculture
A BILL
To amend the Emergency Food Assistance Act of 1983 to establish a national food rescue system through partnerships with food rescue organizations.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the “Food Rescue Act”.
SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT OF NATIONAL FOOD RESCUE SYSTEM.
The Emergency Food Assistance Act of 1983 (7 U.S.C. 7501 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following:
“SEC. 216. NATIONAL FOOD RESCUE SYSTEM.
“(a) Establishment.—The Secretary of Agriculture, acting through the Food and Nutrition Service, shall establish and operate a national food rescue system to coordinate the recovery, processing, transportation, and distribution of surplus and donated food to emergency feeding organizations and food-insecure communities.
“(b) Activities.—In carrying out subsection (a), food rescue organizations shall—
“(1) identify sources of surplus or excess food across the agricultural, retail, manufacturing, and distribution sectors;
“(2) develop and maintain partnerships with nonprofit food rescue organizations, food banks, and local agencies to recover and distribute such food;
“(3) expand and strengthen logistics and infrastructure necessary for food rescue, including aggregation sites, transportation, cold-chain storage, and last-mile delivery;
“(4) support technology platforms and data systems used to identify, track, and redirect surplus food; and
“(5) provide technical assistance to participating entities to enhance efficiency and coordination.
“(c) Grant Program.—To carry out this section, the Secretary shall establish a competitive grant program to support activities described in subsection (b).
“(d) Eligible Entities.—Grants under this section shall be awarded to food rescue organizations, which may carry out projects in partnership with food banks, food recovery networks, State, local, Tribal, or Territorial governments, logistics providers, front-line emergency food providers, and other relevant partners.
“(e) Use of Funds.—Grant funds may be used for—
“(1) food rescue and recovery operations, including gleaning and aggregation;
“(2) transportation and delivery of surplus food, including cold-chain logistics;
“(3) storage, processing, or repackaging infrastructure needed for redistribution;
“(4) technology used to match surplus food with receiving organizations in real time;
“(5) personnel, equipment, or operational needs that support food rescue activities; and
“(6) administrative costs, as determined appropriate by the Secretary.
“(f) Application Requirements.—An eligible entity seeking a grant under this section shall submit an application to the Secretary at such time, in such manner, and containing such information as the Secretary may require, including—
“(1) a description of the proposed project and expected food-rescue impact, including estimated pounds of food recovered and households served;
“(2) identification of participating partners, including producers, distributors, retailers, or logistics entities;
“(3) a budget and implementation timeline; and
“(4) a plan for sourcing, transporting, storing, and delivering surplus food to emergency feeding organizations and food-insecure communities.
“(g) Coordination.—The Secretary shall coordinate activities under this section with—
“(1) programs authorized under the Emergency Food Assistance Act of 1983;
“(2) the Farm-to-Food Bank Project established under section 203D; and
“(3) other USDA efforts to reduce food loss and waste.
“(h) Authorization of Appropriations.—There are authorized to be appropriated such sums as may be necessary to carry out this section.”.
SEC. 3. CONFORMING AMENDMENT.
Section 203D(b) of the Emergency Food Assistance Act of 1983 (7 U.S.C. 7507(b)) is amended by inserting “(excluding funds appropriated under section 216)” after “appropriated under this Act”. <all>
Comments