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 full analysis lists 3 implications of this text.
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.