The weekly Food Research and Action Center (FRAC) News Digest highlights what's new on hunger, nutrition and poverty issues at FRAC, at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, around the network of national, state and local anti-poverty and anti-hunger organizations, and in the media. The Digest will alert you to trends, reports, news items and resources and, when available, link you directly to them.

1. Anti-Hunger Advocates, Post-Katrina, Restate Opposition to Food Program Cuts and Tax Cuts for Wealthy and Urge Anti-Poverty Messages
2. Editorial: After Katrina, Cuts in Low-Income Programs and Cuts in Taxes Would Be Scandalous
3. Editorial: Effects of Cuts Will Be Etched in the Bodies of Young Children
4. Editorial: Cuts Are Repugnant, Timing Unusually Outrageous
5. Op-Ed: Wrong Time to Cut Food Stamps in Wisconsin
6. Op-Ed: Food Stamps and Medicaid Did Not Cause Deficits; Cutting Them Will Increase Fiscal Problems
7. Hurricane Katrina Amplified Needs of Poor
8. Column: Katrina Gives Opportunity to Redefine How We Think About Most Vulnerable
9. Challenging Poverty Needs More Support
10. Editorial: President’s Approach to Economy Abandons Poor and Working People
11. Senate Passed Bill That Limits Privatizing Food Stamp Administration
12. Classroom Breakfast Boosts Participation, Keeps Students Alert, Study Found
13. Oscar De La Hoya Prized Food Stamp Coupon Kept From His Early Days

1. Antihunger Advocates, Post-Katrina, Restate Opposition to Food Program Cuts and Tax Cuts for Wealthy and Urge Anti-Poverty Messages

(“Post Hurricane Katrina Statement on Budget and Nutrition Programs,” frac.org, September 20, 2005)

Representatives of more than 30 state-based anti-hunger organizations at a FRAC-sponsored meeting last week in Washington, D.C. delivered a statement to Senators and members of the House restating, “with renewed vigor and urgency,” anti-hunger advocates' opposition to cuts and structural changes in the Food Stamp Program as well as opposition to proposed tax cuts and tax cut extensions that will disproportionately benefit wealthy Americans at a time of great need in our country. The statement urged Congress in passing legislation in the weeks ahead to help Katrina’s victims to buttress the already effective responsiveness of the food stamp, WIC, and child nutrition programs. Both Houses also were urged to move quickly, effectively, and fundamentally in the months and years ahead to address the problems of poverty, hunger, deprivation and inequality that Hurricane Katrina exposed. “We are confident that after Hurricane Katrina Congress can build on proven successful programs, Congress can reject proposals to reduce such programs and weaken the government’s fiscal position through tax cuts, and Congress can respond to the basic human needs Katrina has revealed,” reads the statement.

http://www.frac.org/html/news/09_20_05.html (full text of the statement)

2. Editorial: After Katrina, Cuts in Low-Income Programs and Cuts in Taxes Would Be Scandalous

(“Sleight of Budgeting,” nytimes.com, September 21, 2005)

The welcome decision to delay Congressional action on tax and spending bills may turn out to have been a tactical move to cast Katrina as the event requiring Congress to cut existing programs. These plans were objectionable before Katrina, and now “would be scandalous, highlighting the skewed priorities that have put the country into a tight financial spot as it copes both with hurricane damage and with the social and economic rifts that Katrina has exposed,” writes The New York Times. The country needs more revenue, and “that requires Congress to stop cutting taxes.” If Congress instead proceeds with its plans and takes up the spending-cut bill before the tax-cut bill, “that would be the first time lawmakers had split such deficit-bloating legislation into two separate bills, raising the suspicion that they're trying to hide the fact that $35 billion in spending cuts, heartless and misguided as they are, would be used to help pay for the $70 billion in new tax breaks – not for deficit reduction and certainly not for Katrina.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/21/opinion/21wed1.html?th&emc=th

3. Editorial: Effects of Cuts Will be Etched in the Bodies of Young Children

(“Suffering Goes on Beyond the Klieg Lights of Catastrophe,” fortwayne.com, September 14, 2005)

In the week of the Katrina disaster, pediatrician Deborah Frank examined a 2-year-old girl who weighed 21 pounds – as much as a 1-year-old should normally weigh. “When Frank asked if the girl had enough to eat, the child's mother burst into tears,” writes Carol Towarnicky, chief editorial writer of The Philadelphia Daily News. But this child was not in New Orleans or Biloxi. She was in Boston where Dr. Frank sees 25 malnourished children a week. "Children in general suffer so invisibly, except in times of national catastrophe, that people do not make connections between the overwhelming numbers talked about in Washington, and the pounds, and ounces, and lost learning capacity" in children, says Frank. Doctor Frank spoke as part of a conference call organized by Voices for America's Children. The group organized this call before the hurricane to protest the proposed cuts to Medicaid, food stamps, and the WIC nutrition program for pregnant women and infants, cuts that Republican leadership still proceed with after Katrina because they are tied to tax cuts. “Before the winds of Katrina blew away the blinders,” Towarnicky writes, “there were millions of sick and hungry children across America.“ The types of cuts proposed for them, Dr. Frank says, “are etched in the bodies of young children.”

http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/newssentinel/news/editorial/12641756.htm

4. Editorial: Cuts Are Repugnant, Timing Unusually Outrageous

(“Food Program Shouldn't Be Touched,” mininggazette.com, September 14, 2005)

“With another Great Lakes winter bearing down on them” and home heating oil and natural gas prices going up, “the last thing residents here [in Michigan] and elsewhere needed was word their food stamps might be cut,” points out this editorial from The Daily Mining Gazette in Houghton, Michigan. More than 26,000 Michigan residents will suffer if Congress enacts proposed cuts to the food stamp program. “Balancing the budget on the backs of the poor, especially the working poor, is repugnant any time. The timing of this proposal, however, is unusually outrageous,” writes the Gazette. “Clearly stated, Uncle Sam needs to look elsewhere to save money. Taking away people's food stamps at about the same time as they can no longer afford to heat their homes and drive their cars is very bad policy. It's also inhumane.”

http://www.mininggazette.com/edit/story/0914202005_edt01-e0914.asp

5. Op-Ed: Wrong Time to Cut Food Stamps in Wisconsin

(“A Bite Out of Food Stamps That's Too Hard to Swallow,” jsonline.com, September 17, 2005)

If Congress yields to pressure from the corporate farm lobby and makes nutrition programs for the poor bear the brunt of proposed agriculture program cuts, it would be “an enormous mistake,” writes Jon Janowski of the Hunger Task Force in The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. The Food Stamp Program is “one of the most efficient and effective ways of preventing hunger among working, low-income Americans.” According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Wisconsin's poverty rate jumped to 11 percent in 2004 – the highest level in more than 10 years. The state reports 350,000 Wisconsin residents received food stamps in July. Yet, the farm lobby is urging Congress to protect subsidies that benefit the wealthiest farms at the expense of food assistance to the poor. Seventy percent of subsidies go to 10 percent of the wealthiest farms. By comparison an average $1 per meal per poor person in food stamps is a small price to pay to alleviate hunger. Congress already cut food stamps as part of the 1996 welfare law. These cuts are still hurting low-income Americans in rural and urban settings alike. “ In Wisconsin– where low- and moderate-income families are grappling with health care, fuel, housing and child care cost increases – it is the wrong time to be gutting a program that helps feed working families.”

6. Op-Ed: Food Stamps and Medicaid Did Not Cause Deficits; Cutting Them Will Increase Fiscal Problems

(“Congress Should Reverse Trend of Robbing Poor, Giving to rich,” pasadenastarnews.com, September 21, 2005)

Notwithstanding the economic recovery, poverty rose nationwide by 1.1 million people from 2003 to 2004, as the most recent U.S. Census data show. One in six children now lives in poverty. Meanwhile, Congress is considering cutting funding to the Food Stamp and Medicaid programs, but proposing to repeal the “estate tax,” a necessary source of federal revenue, writes Beverly Griffin-D'Errico of RESULTS, a grass-roots citizen hunger advocacy organization. Nutrition programs have been far from budget busters and have shrunk in the past decade to 21/100ths of one percent of the national economy. The decline in food stamp spending indicates that the program already is meeting less of the need. Nutrition programs have not caused deficits, but harming children’s and seniors’ nutrition, health, and well-being in the long run will increase deficits. “Americans want our leaders to provide solutions to the problems faced by struggling families with children, who face daily challenges of hunger, lack of housing, no health insurance, limited child care, and underperforming and sometimes even unsafe schools. . . . There is an ugly trend happening in this country, a Robin Hood in reverse – taking from the poor and giving to the rich. Congress should keep in place the social safety net . . .”

7. Hurricane Katrina Amplified Needs of Poor

(“Hearings Planned on Cuts to Social Programs,” desmoinesregister.com, September 20, 2005)

“Because of Katrina, a whole new set of people are in need of Medicaid and other government-funded programs. This is not the time to cut those programs,” said Mike Owen of the Iowa Policy Project. Several Iowa activist and faith groups, like Owen’s, including the Iowa Citizen Action Network, at the Iowa Conference of the United Methodist Church held a series of public hearings in September on proposed cuts to federal benefit programs such as Social Security, Medicaid and food stamps. “These issues affect so many people, people need to understand their choices. These public hearings are a chance for people to be heard and to gain public education,” Owen said.

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2005509200379

8. Column: Katrina Gives Opportunity to Redefine How We Think About Most Vulnerable

(“Time is Ripe to Talk About Poverty in U.S.,” rockymountainnews.com, September 12, 2005)

If we could peel back the veneer of neat and bright downtown Denver, what would we find there?, columnist Tina Griego asks. “No city is different than New Orleans,” says Terri Bailey of the Piton Foundation that combats poverty in Denver. “There are large numbers of disconnected people in all cities. When you look up who makes up the column of the most vulnerable, it might look different from place to place, but it’s still full.” Colorado is offering Katrina evacuees homes and jobs; and tons of goods and millions of dollars have come from private donations. “Yet, I have witnessed heated arguments among lawmakers about state-subsidized prenatal care and juvenile diversion programs and treatment for the mentally ill. And I cannot count the number of people who have told me that poverty is an individual moral failure,” writes Griego. A reader asks why an abandoned dormitory being cleaned for the evacuees had not been fixed up earlier as a shelter for battered women or transitional housing for the homeless. “What is it that has us be so humane in moments like these and then forget when it’s all done?” asks Bailey. “There are times that define who we are internally as a nation, like the Civil War and the Great Depression. I think this is one of those times. It is an opportunity to think about how we think about the most vulnerable among us . . .”

http://tinyurl.com/c52pq

9. Challenging Poverty Needs More Support

(“Politics, Priorities Stand in Way of National War on Poverty,” usatoday.com, September 21, 2005)

“Hurricane Katrina brought poor people directly into American living rooms. Then, amid the images of hardship, the Census Bureau said poverty had risen for the fourth straight year.” But, even with all the hopes and calls for new national resolve to end poverty, the public might not be mobilized for this task. This month’s USA TODAY/CNN/Gallup Poll showed that two-thirds of those polled thought that the country is not spending enough on fighting poverty. But 69 percent of participants said the same thing in a University of Chicago Poll more than a year ago. Though the public might think that fighting poverty is important, there are other competing problems, like the federal deficit. Another problem is “the divide between liberals and conservatives on how to fight poverty. More government programs or more run by churches? Direct help or tax cuts?” Mostly Democrats and the clergy are calling for broad-based action. Republicans “need to soften some of their hard edges," says Charlie Cook, publisher of a political report. There may be bipartisan support for streamlining programs, but “such consequences would be modest compared with those from the 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist factory fire that led to workplace reforms and the modern labor movement, and the 1927 Mississippi River flood that prompted a government response foreshadowing the New Deal.”

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2005-09-21-war-on-poverty_x.htm

10. Editorial: President’s Approach to Economy Abandons Poor and Working People

(“U.S. Poverty Increases,” dailyastorian.com, September, 20, 2005)

“Tax cuts make no sense when we’re fighting the equivalent of two wars,” Oregon’s Daily Astorian editorializes. The paper warns that “the ugly truth of the Bush economy [is] abandonment of the nation’s poor and working people,… adding hundreds of billions to the national budget deficit,…[and] consigning ordinary taxpayers to generations of financial struggle.” The recent poverty report from the U.S. Census Bureau testifies with powerful evidence that President Bush’s policies are widening the gap between the haves and the have-nots.

http://tinyurl.com/9qv9b

11. Senate Passed Bill That Limits Privatizing Food Stamp Administration

(“Senate Blocks Privatization of Food Stamp Work,” today.reuters.com, September 22, 2005)

The U.S. Senate passed a $100 billion Agriculture Department annual funding bill that would prevent states from privatizing the food stamp program, including sending some administrative jobs regarding food stamp applications to overseas call centers. Rep. Tom Harkin (IA-D) sponsored the new bill. Texas, which has the largest food stamp enrollment with 2.4 million recipients, has requested permission to privatize food stamp administration. The overhaul of welfare programs Texas has in mind will result in closing dozens of local offices and relying more on service provided over the telephone. The Food Research and Action Center said that privatization could mean poorer service and more errors in food stamp applications, which ask detailed and complicated questions. The bill now goes to a House-Senate conference.

http://tinyurl.com/a326y

12. Classroom Breakfast Boosts Participation, Keeps Students Alert, Study Found

(“Breakfast Can Help Kids Do Better in School,” syracuse.com, September 19, 2005)

School breakfast served in the classroom works, concluded a study by the Nutrition Consortium of New York State that analyzed the effects of providing breakfast at 20 schools in Upstate New York. "Our pilot project proved that schools in rural, urban or suburban areas, whether in high-income neighborhoods or low-income neighborhoods, can increase breakfast participation and reap the benefits of students who are more alert and ready to learn by serving breakfast in the classroom," Consortium director Edie Mesick says. Nearly 90 percent of schools in New York State offer breakfast, but only one in five low-income students participate. Serving food prior to the start of the school day is one of the reasons for low participation. "Unlike lunch, where nearly every student goes to the cafeteria, students have to choose to go to the cafeteria for breakfast in the morning. Many choose not to go in order to avoid being labeled as poor," the report says. The consortium’s program allowed any student to take food as he or she arrived in the classroom, and eat during morning announcements. This way, about half to two-thirds of the kids participated. Some teachers were uncertain about bringing breakfast into the classroom, fearing a mess and that instructional time would be reduced. But they found that when the children are eating in their classrooms, they are alert, and they participate. The teachers became advocates of in-classroom breakfast.

http://tinyurl.com/dxnnr

http://www.hungernys.org/programs/documents/ABCfinal.pdf (“Academics and Breakfast Connection Pilot: Final Report on New York’s Classroom Breakfast Project” by the Nutrition Consortium of New York State)

13. Oscar De La Hoya Prized Food Stamp Coupon Kept From His Early Days

(“De La Hoya Still Doing OK,” sfgate.com, September 17, 2005)

Champion boxer Oscar De La Hoya lost his treasured $1 food stamp, which was in his wallet when it was stolen by a pickpocket. Although De La Hoya is far from being dependent on food stamps today, the food stamp had helped him remember where he had come from and grounded him as he gained more riches and fame over the years. Before De La Hoya became a household name, he was one of the many poor people struggling in the barrios of East Los Angeles. “I was always very proud to show it,” De La Hoya said. “It was a reminder of where I come from, who I am and where I’m going.” Sadly, the priceless artifact could not be replaced with a new food stamp coupon, since the paper stamps have been replaced by plastic cards.

http://tinyurl.com/82vlo

For news tips, suggestions, comments, contact Olga Doty at odoty@frac.org

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