Media

SALINAS, CA – Today, Congressman Jimmy Panetta (CA-20) and Congressman Glenn "GT" Thompson (PA-15) called on Administration officials to make full use of the United States government's international food assistance programs to mitigate the global hunger implications of the COVID-19 pandemic. The members urge U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue, U.S. Department of States Secretary Mike Pompeo, and U.S.

SALINAS, CA – Today, Congressman Jimmy Panetta (D-CA-20) and Congressman Glenn "GT" Thompson (R-PA-15) called on Administration officials to make full use of the United States government's international food assistance programs to mitigate the global hunger implications of the COVID-19 pandemic. The members urge U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue, U.S. Department of State Secretary Mike Pompeo, and U.S.

SALINAS, CA – Today, Congressman Jimmy Panetta (CA-20) co-introduced legislation to help streamline the donation of food by farmers to food banks across the country to help confront the growing food insecurity related to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Farm to Food Bank Enhancement Act will provide $25 million for states to expand or establish new Farm to Food Bank Projects as part of The Emergency Food Assistance Program, or TEFAP. The federal funding will be used to cover up to 100 percent of harvesting, processing, packaging, and transportation costs for covered commodities.

SALINAS, CA – Today, Congressman Jimmy Panetta (CA-20), Congressman Jason Crow (CO-06), and Congresswoman Lauren Underwood (IL-14) introduced legislation to create a Health Force and a Resiliency Force to help respond to and combat the COVID-19 pandemic. The Health Force would recruit, train, and employ Americans to expand our public health workforce to combat the virus and strengthen America's longer-term public health response.

SALINAS, CA – Today, Congressman Jimmy Panetta (CA-20) and Congressman Don Beyer (VA-08) unveiled a proposal to improve the newly created Paycheck Protection Program (PPP).

SALINAS, CA – Congressman Jimmy Panetta (CA-20), Congressman TJ Cox (CA-21), and Congressman Jim Costa (CA-16) sent joint letters to National Institute of Health (NIH) Director Francis Collins and California Governor Gavin Newsom, requesting that funding prioritization be given to research on how COVID-19 has affected essential workers in the food industry, especially farmworkers, farmers, and employees of food processing plants.

SALINAS, CA – Congressman Jimmy Panetta (D-CA-20) sent a bipartisan letter to California Governor Gavin Newsom calling for the state to use its allocation from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act Coronavirus Relief Fund to assist small and local governments on the front lines fighting COVID-19. He was joined by Representatives Salud Carbajal (D-CA-24), Paul Cook (R-CA-08), Jared Huffman (D-CA-02), Doug LaMalfa (R-CA-01), and Mike Thompson (D-CA-05).

SALINAS, CA – Today, Congressman Jimmy Panetta (D-Carmel Valley) led 41 of his colleagues in the U.S. House of Representatives in calling on House and Senate leadership to increase funding for the National Guard to support food banks during the COVID-19 public health emergency.