Home > Take Action > Action Alert - 11/21/05

      Action Needed to Preserve Nutrition Funding

We are reporting to you on two important votes (on two entirely separate bills) that occurred in the House of Representatives yesterday. Both have important implications for nutrition funding. Your advocacy is having an impact and will be critical in coming weeks.

A message from FRAC President Jim Weill:

“The appalling cuts in food stamps and other programs essential to American families can not be allowed to survive Conference and be enacted into law.  Eking out a tiny margin of victory only after making a variety of deals, including a very small food stamp improvement that still leaves the bill denying food aid to one quarter million people, the Republican House leadership has again been reduced to a strategy of harming many of the neediest people in the country.” 

Labor-HHS-Education

The first is the vote on the final conference report for the Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations bill which provides annual funding for discretionary programs within the Labor, HHS and Education departments. The key nutrition program in this bill for advocates is the Community Food and Nutrition Program (CFNP) - - a source of federal funding for state and local anti-hunger organizations. Despite a major lobbying effort by advocates, the bill failed to provide funding for the program. The Labor-HHS-Ed Appropriations conference report failed on the House floor yesterday by a vote of 209-224. This was an unexpected and significant setback for the House leadership. Defeat of the conference report presents an important opening to renew requests to fund CFNP.You will be receiving a separate email on future action on this legislation and an action plan to seek to get CFNP restored.

Budget Reconciliation

On November 18, 2005 the House passed, by a vote of 217-215, the Budget Reconciliation bill. This is the bill you have been reading about with food stamp, Medicaid, child support enforcement, student loan, foster care, and other damaging cuts to working families. While we are disappointed by the loss, the narrow margin on the budget vote indicates that efforts you and other allies are making are resonating. Despite reports that there was a food stamp “fix,” only minor changes were made, and the bill continues to cut 220,000 to 250,000 low-income people from food stamps by 2008. At the last minute, in order to garner moderate Republican votes, there were very minor changes to the “categorical eligibility” cut that would allow “some” families to retain their food stamp eligibility. The bill continues to cut food stamps to 70,000 legal immigrants by 2008; 50,000 of whom will lose their food stamps immediately in 2006.

Specifically, tweaks to the bill since reported by the Hose Agriculture Committee have only lowered the five year food stamp cuts from $844 million to $700 million. Last minute tweaks to the nutrition cuts aimed at garnering additional moderate Republican votes on November 17 th merely clarified that the changes to “Categorical Eligibility” for families receiving non-cash benefits funded by Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) would not affect what children pay for school meals and exempted from the Cat El cuts some families (with gross incomes below 150% of poverty if also receiving certain types of services).

Conference likely will occur in mid-December, after the House and Senate Thanksgiving recess. Staff discussions likely will start earlier. We need to keep the pressure on. FRAC will continue to update you on developments. Check the FRAC website for more, www.frac.org.

MESSAGE: Our message going into a House/Senate conference on the Reconciliation bill remains the same.

For further information or if you have any questions please contact Ellen Teller (202-986-2200 x3013 or eteller@frac.org), Ellen Vollinger (202-986-2200 x3016 or evollinger@frac.org), or Iris Chavez (202-986-2200 x3017 or Ichavez@frac.org)

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