Home > Legislative Action Center > Action Alert - 10/04/06

Congressional committees already have begun preparing for the 2007 Farm Bill, which will reauthorize the Food Stamp Program (as well as farm subsidy, conservation and other programs). The Senate and House Agriculture Committees now have Web-based tools to solicit public input. While many comments are expected to be submitted by farmers and ranchers concerned with other titles of the bill, the anti-hunger community has a great opportunity to use the Web-based comment process to build early momentum for investments in the nutrition title.

We hope you will add your voice and the voices of your partners and networks to those asking for a strong nutrition title in the 2007 Farm Bill. And we hope you will do so now, and over the next few weeks. It is not too early for our community to lay down a marker for the FY 2008 Budget (being developed this autumn by the Administration) that will affect the fiscal and programmatic shape of the next Farm Bill. Below are some suggestions on framing and submitting comments. Additional background on the 2007 Farm Bill is posted in FRAC’s 2007 Farm Bill Food Stamp Reauthorization Action Center.

Action Needed

1) Develop a comment that makes your most important points and provides the committees with information about how hunger is impacting your community. No word limit applies but comments need not be lengthy to have an impact.

For suggested language, see the short model comment below as well as FRAC’s ten-point comment letter. For other testimony on the nutrition title of the 2007 Farm Bill, visit FRAC’s Farm Bill Food Stamp Reauthorization Action Center. For additional technical assistance on crafting comments, contact evollinger@frac.org

But don’t let the potential details get in the way of commenting. The important thing is to get as many comments as possible focused on strengthening the Food Stamp Program.

2) Submit your comment to the Senate and House Agriculture Committees via their Web based tools.

Note that the Senate Agriculture Committee Web site tool asks about your interest in agriculture (check “other”), region (12 listed to choose from), and areas of special interest (leave blank because none of the options relate to the nutrition title). There is a box in which to insert your comment and then hit the “SEND” button. See http://agriculture.senate.gov/ag/fbfield.htm and http://agriculture.senate.gov/ag/feedback.cfm

The House Agriculture Committee Web site tool has fields to fill in for name, state, zip code, congressional district, and e-mail address. It also asks you to check whether you are a “producer” (which in farm bill lingo is a “farmer or rancher”) (check “Non-producer”). There is box in which to insert your comment and then hit the “Submit” button to send. See www.agriculture.house.gov/inside/feedbackform.html

House Agriculture Committee Democrats are also accepting comments via e-mails to april.demert@mail.house.gov.

It is, of course, fine to submit the same comment to all three.

3) Urge others in your community to submit comments. Having a variety of groups speak up on the nutrition title is important, especially given that the Web-based comment tools otherwise are likely mainly to generate input from farmers and ranchers on titles other than the nutrition title.

4) Forward a copy of your comments to your Senators and Representative(s).

5) Please send your comments to FRAC by sending them to evollinger@frac.org Note: FRAC may provide compilations of comments to Members.

Short Model Comment (Tailor to Your Circumstances)

“My top priority [our organization’s top priority] for the 2007 Farm Bill is a strong nutrition title that reauthorizes and strengthens the Food Stamp Program. We urge the Farm Bill and FY 2008 Budget to reflect that priority.

Too many people in our community are living with hunger or on the edge of hunger. National surveys document that more than 38 million Americans live in households that experience food insecurity.

[Insert information about your group, any local data about food insecurity or background on the people served]

The Food Stamp Program is a fundamentally sound program that is helping to keep hunger from being worse in our community. The Program responds to increases in need, whether due to local or national economic circumstances or to disasters, as seen after Hurricane Katrina. It helps families obtain food at grocery stores for meals at home. And it uses Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) cards that streamline the transactions for consumers and store clerks and reduce the chances of program abuse. The program’s basic structure should be maintained.

The Food Stamp Program, however, needs greater resources to more effectively fight hunger in our community:

• Neither the average benefit level of $1 per person per meal nor the $10 monthly minimum benefit are adequate to help families purchase a healthy diet.

• Too many people in our community are in need but cannot get food stamps. These include poor families with assets slightly above the outdated resource limits, many legal immigrants, and jobless people seeking work.

• While food stamp outreach and nutrition education are making important inroads, too many eligible people are missing out on benefits.

Therefore, we urge the 2007 Farm Bill and FY 2008 Budget to invest resources to make food stamp benefit allotments more adequate, to open eligibility to more vulnerable people, and to connect more eligible people with benefits.

We appreciate your consideration of our views.”

* * *

Printer Friendly Version