Economic Recovery Plan Moving in House and Senate
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Immediate Actions Needed: As debate heats up today in the House on the American Economic Recovery and Reinvestment Act, H.R. 1, it is critical to take two steps today: 1) Call your U.S. House member to urge him/her to vote for final passage of the legislation. Call toll-free at 866-544-7573. The toll-free number is provided courtesy of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU). A House vote is expected as early as Wednesday, January 28. Please urge both Democrats and Republicans to support this bill, which contains very important help for low-and moderate- income people though nutrition and other programs. 2) Join FRAC and other allies by signing onto an organizational letter that urges Congress to further help low-income families with children by including in the Recovery Act important improvements in the Child Tax Credit. The House bill would mean increased income from the credit for 13.3 million children. A recent study (from Canada) shows, as might be expected, that a larger refundable credit has the effect of reducing hunger. Click here to view the letter and sign your organization onto it. |
House Package Nutrition Provisions: H.R. 1 would, among other things, boost the SNAP/Food Stamp maximum allotment by 13.6 percent for FY 2009, provide $300 million over two years in extra SNAP/Food Stamp administrative funds to states; provide $726 million to boost afterschool snack reimbursement and to expand the afterschool supper program nationwide; provide $100 million more in funding for WIC management information systems that could support Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) capacity; add $200 million in grants for senior nutrition programs; and provide $150 million for The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP). Funding for WIC caseload increases was not included in the House package, but reportedly is addressed in the Senate version of the bill. See House bill and report language (latest version). Senate bill and report language is not public yet, but for highlights, click here.
There is thus very substantial nutrition program improvement in the stimulus packages, including $20 billion for food stamps in the House bill. (Some scattered reports to the contrary, such as a Washington Post story that said “There is no significant increase in food stamp funding on the horizon,” are simply wrong.)
Additional Anti-Poverty Provisions of House Package: Additional anti-poverty provisions in the package include: an important improvement in the refundable part of the Child Tax Credit; Earned Income Tax expansion; assistance to states for Medicaid costs; a boost in SSI payments; major unemployment insurance improvements; and added funds for senior nutrition, emergency food and shelter, TANF, child care and Head Start, LIHEAP, child support enforcement, and the Community Services Block Grant.
Background on the Child Tax Credit: The House economic recovery bill contains an important expansion of the Child Tax Credit (CTC) to very low-income families. Currently, the refundable CTC does not begin to phase in until a family has earning of $8,500. Poor families hard-hit by this economic crisis with earnings below that amount are excluded from receiving any type of the CTC, and those with earnings just above $8,500 get only small amounts. The House provision makes families eligible for the CTC with the first dollar of earnings, allowing more low-income families to qualify, and increasing the amount received by low-income families with earnings over $8,500. The House proposal would help more than 13 million children-either by making them eligible for the first time or by increasing the credit, and helping them will reduce hunger and other deprivation, produce jobs and boost the economy. The Senate Appropriations Committee is marking up its version of the bill today with a narrower CTC proposal that brings the CTC earnings threshold down to only $6,000.
State-by-State Impacts: For estimates of the state-by-state impact of select provisions of the House economic recovery package, including the food stamp provision, check the Web site of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities here.
For more information, contact Ellen Teller, eteller@frac.org, or Ellen Vollinger, evollinger@frac.org, at FRAC.