June 25, 2007

House Subcommittee markup provides hope for millions of Americans
The $5 Billion Nutrition Proposal Strengthens Federal Nutrition Programs

PHILADELPHIA --June 25 2007-- The House Subcommittee on Nutrition completed a markup yesterday that proposes to increase spending under the Nutrition Title of the 2007 Farm Bill by an estimated $5 billion over five years.  This funding is contingent upon offsets, but if provided, would strengthen The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP), the Food Stamp Program and the Commodity Supplemental Food Program (CSFP). 

“This markup is a critical step forward in securing a strong nutrition title in the 2007 Farm Bill Reauthorization,” said Vicki Escarra, president and chief executive officer of America’s Second Harvest—The Nation’s Food Bank Network.  “We commend the Subcommittee, particularly Chairman Baca and Ranking Member Bonner, for their leadership in moving us one step closer to feeding more hungry Americans.”

Highlights in the proposed legislation include: (1.) $250 million for commodity purchases for The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP); (2.)  an increase to $100 million in the authorization for the direct and indirect costs of processing, storing, transporting and distributing TEFAP commodities; (3.) reauthorizing the Commodity Supplemental Food Program (CSFP); establishing the same income eligibility standards for the elderly and as for mothers and children.

“The proposal includes many provisions that are essential to helping our food banks nationwide, but we are hopeful that the House and Senate Agriculture Committees will be able to secure sufficient funding for these improvements without doing harm to other important programs serving the poor and hungry of this nation,” said Escarra.  “Our food banks are facing enormous challenges each day with dramatically increasing costs to transport food to people in need, and we believe this must be addressed in the Farm Bill Reauthorization this year. A small amount of funding to help with transporting highly perishable products could yield benefits far beyond the cost for thousands of low-income families and individuals in need of healthy foods.”

“Each year, food banks, including Philabundance, the largest hunger relief organization in Southeastern Pennsylvania and southern New Jersey, distribute more than 2 billion pounds of food to 50,000 charitable agencies in the United States,” says Bill Clark, president/executive director of Philabundance and member of the National Affiliate Council (NAC), a policy guidance group for the National Association of Foodbanks and America’s Second Harvest. “While food banks serve millions of hungry Americans, federal nutrition programs are the first line of defense for hunger in America.”

America’s Second Harvest is advocating for a “Food for the Hungry” transportation grant program that would help facilitate the procurement and transportation of highly perishable foods, such as produce and protein, for low-income families and individuals.  These are among the food items most in need at food banks nationwide, and most needed in the diets of poor Americans. Our food banks also support provisions in the bill that will expand access and benefits for food stamp recipients.

“We are pleased that food stamp improvements are in the House subcommittee proposal because we see millions of recipients coming to us in the third week of every month when their food stamps run out. And, we see those who cannot get enough to eat but are ineligible for food stamps because of outdated income deductions and exclusions,” said Escarra.

Specifics food stamp improvements include increasing the standard deduction for households and indexing it for inflation, lifting the cap on maximum deductions for child care and excluding combat-related military pay, education savings accounts and retirement accounts from countable resources when applying for the Food Stamp Program. The House subcommittee bill also would rename the Food Stamp Program the “Secure Nutrition Access Program” (SNAP).

“As the largest charitable hunger-relief organization in the United States, our Network serves more than 25 million Americans, including 9 million children and nearly 3 million seniors, each year,” said Escarra. “We are working to end hunger in America, but we can not do it alone. The Federal Government has an important leadership and resource role. Each dollar it invests in our nutrition programs offers an enormous return when it spurs the local economy and helps food banks and charitable agencies multiply this with private and corporate donations.  We cannot continue to allow one in ten Americans to be hungry or at risk of hunger.  This Farm Bill reauthorization can help pave the way to a food secure nation, and it is long past time to accomplish this worthy goal.”

Philabundance is a non-profit organization fighting hunger and malnutrition in the Delaware Valley.  It was founded in 1984 as a food rescue organization to help ensure that perishable food that otherwise would have gone to waste was instead provided to people in need. Today’s Philabundance is a result of the 2005 integration with the Philadelphia Food Bank. Philadelphia Food Bank was founded in 1980 to be a bridge between those with extra non-perishable food and those without enough. Today, Philabundance provides a full plate of services to more than 600 member agencies and the people they serve. Visit www.philabundance.org for more information.

America's Second Harvest–The Nation's Food Bank Network is the largest charitable domestic  hunger-relief organization in the country with a Network of more than 200 Member food banks and food-rescue organizations serving all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.  The America's Second Harvest Network secures and distributes more than 2 billion pounds of donated food and grocery products annually; and supports approximately 50,000 local charitable agencies operating more than 94,000 programs including food pantries, soup kitchens, emergency shelters, after-school programs and Kids Cafes. Last year, the America's Second Harvest Network provided food assistance to more than 25 million low-income hungry people in the United States, including 9 million children and nearly 3 million seniors. For more on the America's Second Harvest Network, please visit www.secondharvest.org.