Home > FRAC 2007 Farm Bill Food Stamp Reauthorization Center > Action Alert - 9/11/07

RE: Activities Important to Garner Support for Key Farm Bill Nutrition Program Improvements

MESSAGE: Build on nutrition title provisions in H.R. 2419 for the strongest possible Food Stamp and TEFAP improvements in the nutrition title of the Senate version of the Farm Bill.

Nutrition Title of House Bill a Good Start: Prior to its August adjournment, the House, on July 27 by a vote of 231 to 191, approved the Farm, Nutrition and Bioenergy Act of 2007 (H.R. 2419) (the "Farm Bill"), which, among other provisions, invests $4 billion over five years to improve Food Stamp Program benefits and access and raise funding for The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP).

Senate Action Looming: Action now shifts to the Senate, where Agriculture Committee Chairman Tom Harkin (D-IA) and Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad (D-ND) continue to search for new money to invest in nutrition program improvements. It is crucial that Senators hear from organizations back home just how important added nutrition program investments are to providing a nutrition safety net for vulnerable people in their communities.

Action Needed

1. Build on the momentum of House passage of H.R. 2419 and urge Senators to support the strongest possible nutrition title of the Farm Bill. Specifically, ask for meetings with your Senators or District Staff in their District offices. Attend and speak up at forums, town hall meetings and listening sessions that Senators host or attend. Also, continue to weigh in and update Senate program staff in the Washington, D.C. offices. Capitol switchboard is 202-225-3121. For information on District offices, email and contacts for Senate staff, email Ellen Teller, eteller@frac.org.
2. Give hunger a human face by inviting Senators and their staff to see your programs in action. Invite them to visit nutrition programs and emergency feeding sites, farmers’ market EBT locations, food stamp outreach programs, or other nutrition program sites. Watch local papers, check Web sites for Members of Congress, and call congressional district offices to find out about events where advocates can talk with lawmakers about the Farm Bill's nutrition title priorities. If there are no activities planned, invite Senators to attend meetings or forums that you organize along with others in your community. Encourage your allies to attend these functions.
3. Create media attention by generating editorials and submitting letters to the editor and op-eds about the importance of a strong nutrition title of the Farm Bill. Remember, every Member of Congress has staff assigned to "clip" stories in the national and local press. FRAC can provide assistance on drafting and placing op-eds. For more on generating media opportunities in support of the nutrition title of the Farm Bill, contact Ellen Vollinger, evollinger@frac.org or Jen Adach, jadach@frac.org.
4. Over the past year, elected officials, religious leaders, anti-hunger advocates and others have sparked public awareness about the inadequacy of food stamp allotments by taking the Food Stamp Challenge (eating only what can be purchased with an average food stamp allotment for a week). Invite Senators and their staff to take the challenge, or to join you and others on a shopping trip to the local grocery store to see just how much the average food stamp allotment buys. Encourage community leaders to take the challenge! For a link to a new Food Stamp Challenge toolkit from The Hatcher Group and FRAC and other information on the Challenge, go to http://www.frac.org/Legislative/fspchallenge.html. For assistance on mounting challenges, contact Ellen Vollinger, evollinger@frac.org.
5. Don't neglect your House Members. The eventual bill will go to a Senate-House conference. Take the opportunity to praise the House bill for its nutrition title and discuss the importance of keeping the strongest possible nutrition title throughout the process.

Talking Points

35 million people in the United States live in households that face a constant struggle against hunger. Hunger is a serious problem in our state/community. Food stamp benefits average only $1 per person per meal; the minimum monthly benefit — most frequently applied to seniors — has been stuck at a mere $10 for 30 years. Our nation can do better.

Message: Support and Build on H.R. 2419 Nutrition Title Provisions

Build on the House's nutrition title investments by further strengthening its benefit increases (especially for the minimum monthly benefit and standard deductions), by raising the resource limits significantly, and by restoring benefit eligibility to more vulnerable groups currently left out.

The nutrition title of H.R. 2419 invests $4 billion over five years to improve food stamp allotment levels and eligibility (by increasing the standard and child care deductions, raising the minimum monthly benefit, and disregarding military combat pay), improve food stamp resource rules (by exempting retirement and education savings accounts from affecting food stamp eligibility and indexing for inflation the $2000 and $3000 asset limits), and raise mandatory spending for TEFAP commodity purchases. These investments represent real progress in addressing hunger in the U.S. but the Senate must make further improvements.

Feedback and Assistance

For feedback and assistance, contact evollinger@frac.org and eteller@frac.org.

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