Congress·In Committee·H.R. 7153

Agriculture and National Security Act of 2026

Congress Proposes New National Security Advisor to Protect U.S. Food Supply and Farmland

Next up: A house committee

This bill is currently in the House Committee on Agriculture where it has been since January 19, 2026. No action has taken place on this proposal for five months. It is considered stalled because the committee must review it before it can move forward.

Legislative Progress

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Senate

President

Law

How we got here

This bill’s path across every version that has carried it.

Reintroduced
Reintroduced from H.R. 8522 (118th), which died when its Congress ended.
H.R. 8522 (118th) →

Key Points

This bill, introduced by Mrs. Bice, would create a new Senior Advisor for National Security at the Department of Agriculture to help protect the nation's food supply from foreign threats.
The Department of Agriculture would hire more staff with high-level security clearances so they can access secret information and work more closely with intelligence and defense agencies.
The government would be required to track and report on specific risks, such as foreign companies buying American farmland, the theft of farming technology, and potential cyberattacks on food systems.
The policy allows the Department of Agriculture to swap experts with agencies like the FBI or CIA to better identify and fix weaknesses in how the country grows and distributes food.
Every two years, officials must give Congress a detailed report on vulnerabilities in the food chain, including shortages of seeds or fertilizer and the impact of artificial intelligence on farming.

AgricultureNational Security Foreign Policy

Impact Analysis

Personal Impact

Scores run from -100 (strongly harmful) to +100 (strongly beneficial) for each group, combining impact, certainty, scope, and duration ratings of 1-5. How impact scoring works

The bill directs USDA to increase the number of staff with security clearances and creates a new Senior Advisor for National Security position within the Office of the Secretary. It also allows personnel exchanges (detailees) between USDA and intelligence, defense, and law enforcement agencies. This means some USDA employees would take on new national security responsibilities, and the department would bring in new hires or temporary staff from other agencies.

ImpactCertaintyScopeDurationSentiment

Broader Impacts

DomainScoreShort-termLong-termReversibilityConfidence

Score

Scores: -5 (harmful) to +5 (beneficial)Short-term: 0-2 yearsLong-term: 10-30 years

Milestones

2 milestones2 actions

Jan 20, 2026House

Referred to the House Committee on Agriculture.

Jan 20, 2026

Introduced in House

The bill was officially filed and given a number. It now enters the legislative queue.

Related News

3 articles

The Hill·Jan 28

Congress Punts on the Farm Bill (Again), Let’s Talk About Biotech Instead

Article discusses the legislative vacuum in 2026 and highlights the Agriculture and National Security Act as a key measure to formalize USDA coordination with national security agencies like DARPA to identify food supply vulnerabilities and integrate biotechnology as a risk mitigation strategy.

Center

Politico·Jan 20

Bice, Khanna Introduce Bipartisan Agriculture and National Security Act

Rep. Stephanie Bice and Ro Khanna introduced H.R. 7153 to create a Senior Advisor for National Security at the USDA. The bill aims to protect the U.S. food supply from foreign adversaries by increasing security clearances for department staff and improving intelligence sharing on farmland buys.

Center Left

Axios·Jan 25

Biotech and the Border: How New Security Bills Aim to Protect American Resources

Axios reports on the intersection of agricultural policy and national defense. The Agriculture and National Security Act is highlighted as a tool to prevent the theft of farming technology and mitigate risks posed by foreign acquisitions of critical agricultural assets.

Center

No votes or related bills recorded for this bill yet.