On June 14, the House Agriculture Subcommittee on Department Operations, Oversight, Nutrition and Forestry approved, by voice vote, changes to the food stamp program and other nutrition programs included in Title IV (the Nutrition title) of legislation (H.R. 2419) to reauthorize the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 (P.L. 107-171), known as the farm bill. The current authorization of the program expires at the end of FY2007. Nutrition programs would receive an increase of $5.8 billion over five years. However, the additional funding would be provided through a $20 billion “reserve fund” that could be used only if offsets are identified.
The bill would increase the standard deduction allowed for food stamp households and index it for inflation; lift the cap on dependent care (currently capped at $200 per month for each child under two years of age and $175 per month for each child over two); exclude retirement accounts, qualified tuition programs, and Coverdell Education Savings Accounts from countable financial resources to determine eligibility; and index for inflation the asset limits for food stamp households (currently $2,000) “if offsetting funding is available.” The legislation would make changes intended to simplify and improve the food stamp application process, and to reduce fraud in the program.
The legislation would extend through FY2012 the Emergency Assistance Food Program (TEFAP); the availability of surplus commodities for nutrition programs under the Older Americans Act, child nutrition programs, and food banks; and the Commodity Supplemental Food Program, which provides commodity packages to low-income pregnant and breastfeeding women, other new mothers up to one year postpartum, infants, children up to six years of age, and elderly people who are at least 60 years old.
The bill would expand the fresh fruit and vegetable program under the school lunch program to all 50 states. It also would establish the Bill Emerson National Hunger Fellowship Program and the Mickey Leland International Hunger Fellowship Program to encourage “future leaders” to pursue careers in humanitarian and public service and to provide assistance to people in need. The fellowship programs would seek public policy solutions to the challenges of hunger and poverty, and provide training and development opportunities. The new center would receive $3 million each year through FY2012.
In his opening statement, Chair Joe Baca (D-CA) mentioned that he was the youngest of 15 children and that his family depended on food stamps during his childhood; he expressed his personal gratitude for the existence of a safety net. Saying that 11 percent of the U.S. population struggles with hunger each day, he asked, “How can we expect Americans to work hard…on an empty stomach?” He particularly expressed his concern with the impact of hunger on children: “Simply put, hungry children do not perform as well.”
Subcommittee Ranking Member Jo Bonner (R-AL) acknowledged the importance of the nutrition title to people in need, adding “…it is imperative we ensure those dollars are getting to those who need it and not going to waste on those who don’t.” He urged that every effort be made to “minimize waste, fraud, and abuse.” Full committee Ranking Member Bill Goodlatte (R-VA), stating that the food stamp program represented 57 percent of the total spending in the farm bill, expressed his concern that the subcommittee provisions would tap into reserve funds that “may never come to fruition.”
During the mark-up, several amendments to the nutrition title were adopted by voice vote, including:
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