Congress orders USDA to map farm aid for Texas water crisis
H.R. 387 — Texas Agricultural Producers Assistance Act · Filed by Mónica De La Cruz (R-TX) · 5 cosponsors · Introduced Jan 14, 2025 · Referred to committee
Your members of Congress
Enter a ZIP to see where your representative and both senators stood on this bill.
Looked up on this device — your ZIP is never stored on our servers.
What it does
This bill requires the Secretary of Agriculture to report within 180 days on what existing federal assistance programs could help Texas farmers who have suffered economic losses because Mexico has failed to deliver water owed under the 1944 U.S.-Mexico water treaties. The bill does not create new assistance, appropriate money, or mandate aid—it only requires the USDA to inventory what help might already be available.
Why we flagged it
The bill's sole operative mechanism is a reporting requirement. It does not appropriate funds, create new programs, mandate assistance, or change existing law—it only directs the USDA to compile and submit information about what help might be available under existing authorities.
What the text implies
- The report may reveal gaps in existing USDA assistance programs for cross-border water-shortage scenarios, potentially creating political pressure for future appropriations or program expansion.
- By naming Mexico's water-delivery failure explicitly, the bill frames a diplomatic/treaty issue as a domestic agricultural crisis, which may influence how Congress views future water-treaty enforcement or renegotiation.
- The 180-day timeline creates a fixed deadline for USDA to respond, but does not require Congress to act on the report—the bill's impact depends entirely on whether Congress uses the report to fund or authorize new aid.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
The bill creates transparency about existing assistance options for a specific group of farmers facing a real cross-border water crisis, which is a modest public benefit. However, the bill itself creates no new assistance, appropriates no funds, and imposes no obligation on USDA to actually deploy aid—it only requires a report. Texas farmers harmed by water shortages may benefit if the report surfaces programs they did not know existed, but the bill does not guarantee relief.
Named in the bill
Secretary of Agriculture, Department of Agriculture (USDA), House Committee on Agriculture, Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry, State of Texas, Mexico, Treaty Relating to the Utilization of Waters of the Colorado and Tijuana Rivers and of the Rio Grand, Supplementary Protocol (1944)
Where it stands
5 cosponsors: 4 Republicans, 1 Democrats.
- Jan 14, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Jan 14, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on Agriculture · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on Agriculture”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (1,057 characters) on Jun 8, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
As of — page rendered 2026-10-20.
“Congress orders USDA to map farm aid for Texas water crisis” QuorumCivic. https://share.quorumcivic.app/bill/119/hr387 Report an error
The week in bills
One email, Sunday: what Congress passed, what it changed, and who paid.
One link arrives to confirm the address. It is used for this email and nothing else, and every issue carries an unsubscribe link.