{"id":29280,"date":"2026-02-18T14:09:53","date_gmt":"2026-02-18T19:09:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/?post_type=press-releases&#038;p=29280"},"modified":"2026-02-18T14:12:03","modified_gmt":"2026-02-18T19:12:03","slug":"georgia-cotton-industry-backs-bipartisan-buying-american-cotton-act-cosponsored-by-sen-ossoff","status":"publish","type":"press-releases","link":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/press-releases\/georgia-cotton-industry-backs-bipartisan-buying-american-cotton-act-cosponsored-by-sen-ossoff\/","title":{"rendered":"Georgia Cotton Industry Backs Bipartisan Buying American Cotton Act Cosponsored by Sen. Ossoff\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Washington, D.C.&nbsp;<\/strong>\u2014&nbsp;Georgia&nbsp;cotton growers&nbsp;are backing a bipartisan bill championed by U.S. Senator Jon Ossoff to&nbsp;help&nbsp;U.S.&nbsp;cotton growers sell more product.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Sen. Ossoff&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/press-releases\/sen-ossoff-working-across-aisle-to-support-georgia-cotton-growers\/\">recently&nbsp;cosponsored&nbsp;<\/a>the bipartisan<em>&nbsp;Buying American Cotton Act of 2025<\/em>&nbsp;to incentivize retailers to&nbsp;sell&nbsp;products made with U.S. cotton&nbsp;to&nbsp;boost demand for&nbsp;cotton&nbsp;grown in the U.S., becoming the first Senate Democrat to back the bill.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The bipartisan bill, led by Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS), would provide a tax credit to companies when they sell cotton products that are made from cotton grown in the United States.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Now,&nbsp;key leaders in&nbsp;Georgia\u2019s&nbsp;cotton&nbsp;industry&nbsp;are&nbsp;backing Sen. Ossoff\u2019s efforts to pass the bill.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe&nbsp;<em>Buy American Cotton Act<\/em>&nbsp;will be a game changer for U.S. Growers and could&nbsp;ultimately save&nbsp;the cotton industry in this country. I am grateful for the bipartisan support for this legislation,\u201d&nbsp;<strong>said State Representative Jaclyn Ford, Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, Dixon Gin Company.<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe bipartisan&nbsp;<em>Buying American Cotton Act<\/em>&nbsp;will provide tremendous benefits to Georgia\u2019s cotton producers and consumers. Increasing demand for U.S. cotton will be&nbsp;a&nbsp;game-changer&nbsp;for our domestic cotton industry. The traceability aspect of U.S. cotton provides consumers certainty on where the cotton in their textiles was grown.&nbsp;&nbsp;I look forward to the passage of this bipartisan legislation and seeing more of our Georgia-grown cotton in stores across the United States,\u201d&nbsp;<strong>said&nbsp;Matt Coley,&nbsp;Owner,&nbsp;Coley&nbsp;Gin&nbsp;&amp;&nbsp;Fertilizer&nbsp;Company.<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cBy the people, for the people- The natural fiber that connects all Americans. Thank you, Senator Ossoff, for showing our nation the unity found in a single American fiber through your support of the&nbsp;<em>Buying American Cotton Act<\/em>. We are proud to stand with you, and we thank you for standing with us Georgia Proud,\u201d&nbsp;<strong>said&nbsp;Jon Stallings and Family,&nbsp;Funston Gin Company.<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cGeorgia\u2019s cotton growers are essential to our state\u2019s economy,\u201d&nbsp;<strong>Sen. Ossoff said.<\/strong>&nbsp;\u201cThis bipartisan legislation will help bolster Georgia cotton production and give our growers a competitive edge over global competitors.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to the University of Georgia, Georgia consistently ranks as a top U.S producer of cotton, producing an estimated&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/fieldreport.caes.uga.edu\/publications\/AP130-3-07\/2025-cotton-outlook-and-market-situation\/#:~:text=further%20suppressing%20prices.-,Georgia%20Outlook,remain%20relatively%20low%20in%202025.\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">2 million bales of cotton<\/a>&nbsp;every year. The cotton industry contributes around&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/extension.uga.edu\/topic-areas\/field-crop-forage-turfgrass-production\/cotton.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">$3 billion annually<\/a>&nbsp;to Georgia\u2019s economy.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Georgia farmers&nbsp;face&nbsp;increasingly challenging economic conditions due to&nbsp;high costs&nbsp;of production, low market prices, tariffs, and heightened global competition.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Sen. Ossoff continues working to support Georgia\u2019s agricultural industry.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Last&nbsp;November,&nbsp;Sen. Ossoff&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/press-releases\/sen-ossoff-pushing-to-protect-georgia-farmers-boost-domestic-production\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">cosponsored<\/a>&nbsp;the bipartisan&nbsp;<em>Securing American Agriculture Act<\/em>&nbsp;to&nbsp;help&nbsp;decrease dependence on China for agricultural imports.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Last&nbsp;September, Sen. Ossoff&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/press-releases\/sen-ossoff-working-to-protect-georgia-pecan-growers-from-trump-administration-tariffs\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">joined<\/a>&nbsp;lawmakers across the aisle to urge the United States Trade Representative to prioritize American pecan producers in ongoing trade negotiations with India.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Last&nbsp;August, Sen. Ossoff&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/press-releases\/sen-ossoff-working-across-the-aisle-to-protect-georgias-family-owned-farms-from-chinese-imports\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">cosponsored<\/a>&nbsp;the bipartisan<em>&nbsp;United States Citrus Protection Act<\/em>&nbsp;alongside Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) to support and protect Georgia\u2019s citrus growers by banning imports of fresh citrus from China, which can undercut domestic citrus producers and hurt the rapidly growing citrus industry in Georgia.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In December 2024, Sen. Ossoff&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/press-releases\/sen-ossoff-passes-agricultural-disaster-relief-for-georgia-farmers-after-hurricane-helene\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">successfully fought<\/a>&nbsp;to pass a bipartisan disaster relief package that included $21 billion in agricultural disaster funding to help Georgia farmers recovering from the disastrous impacts of Hurricane Helene and farmers nationwide&nbsp;impacted&nbsp;by natural disasters.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.congress.gov\/bill\/119th-congress\/senate-bill\/1919\/text\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Click here<\/a>&nbsp;to read the<em>&nbsp;Buying American Cotton Act<\/em>.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"># # #<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Washington, D.C.&nbsp;\u2014&nbsp;Georgia&nbsp;cotton growers&nbsp;are backing a bipartisan bill championed by U.S. Senator Jon Ossoff to&nbsp;help&nbsp;U.S.&nbsp;cotton growers sell more product.&nbsp; Sen. Ossoff&nbsp;recently&nbsp;cosponsored&nbsp;the bipartisan&nbsp;Buying American Cotton Act of 2025&nbsp;to incentivize retailers to&nbsp;sell&nbsp;products made with U.S. cotton&nbsp;to&nbsp;boost demand for&nbsp;cotton&nbsp;grown in the U.S., becoming the first Senate Democrat to back the bill.&nbsp;&nbsp; The bipartisan bill, led by Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith [&hellip;]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":74,"featured_media":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29280","press-releases","type-press-releases","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press_releases\/29280","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press_releases"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/press-releases"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/74"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press_releases\/29280\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29283,"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press_releases\/29280\/revisions\/29283"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29280"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29280"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29280"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}