[Faith & Hunger] Bread for the World Alert on Farm Bill

[Dunleamark at aol.com]

Seeds of Change Update

After weeks of delay due to partisan conflict, Senate  leadership announced 
on December 7 that floor debate on the 2007 farm bill would  resume. Votes on 
amendments began Tuesday, December 11. A full Senate  vote on the farm bill is 
likely to occur this week.  
Senators are working from the farm bill passed by the Senate Agriculture  
Committee, which made modest changes but did little to reform unfair, outmoded  
commodity programs. A further problem for nutrition, however, is that the 
Senate  bill provides $5.4 billion in new investments for the nutrition title 
without  permanent funding. This means that in 2012, when the farm bill comes up 
again,  Congress will have to find $9 billion (adjusted for inflation) just to 
continue  the nutrition increases included in this year's farm bill. If 
additional funding  is not found, the repercussions for low-income families would be 
immediate and  severe: more than 10 million food stamp recipients would see a 
reduction in  benefits and more than 100,000 low-income people would lose 
eligibility for food  stamp benefits.  
Now it is all senators' turn to seize the opportunity to create a  more just 
farm bill. Bread for the World supports several  amendments on the Senate 
floor that will benefit poor and hungry people  here at home and around the world, 
make programs fairer for U.S. farm and rural  families, and enable poor 
farmers in poor countries to earn their way out of  poverty. 
    *   Lugar/Lautenberg ("FRESH") Amendment: Would broaden the  agricultural 
safety net by making a free revenue insurance program available  to all 
farmers. This would save billions of dollars that would be used for  nutrition 
programs, specialty crop programs (improving research and marketing  opportunities 
for the majority of farmers, who currently do not benefit at all  from 
commodity programs); critical conservation programs and the McGovern-Dole  
international school feeding program. In addition to fully paying for the  nutrition 
improvements in the Senate Agriculture Committee bill, FRESH would  invest an 
additional $2.2 billion above the Senate committee bill level in  nutrition. 
NOTE: This amendment was defeated 37-58 on December 11. _Read the press release._ 
(http://ga4.org/ct/e7MjaoF1hRo5/)  

    *   Dorgan/Grassley Amendment: Would establish a hard cap for  commodity 
payments at $250,000 per household, helping ensure that payments are  targeted 
where they are needed. The amendment would also make sure that  payments flow 
to working farmers rather than their landlords. The money saved  from capping 
payments to the largest producers and landowners would be  redirected to 
nutrition and conservation programs. 

    *   Brown/Sununu Amendment: Would reform crop insurance programs to  
bring the insurance companies' underwriting gains more into line with other  types 
of insurance and lower their Administration & Operations ('A&O')  
reimbursement. No farmers would see any change in their premium costs or  coverage. The 
amendment would save money to reinvest in food stamps,  conservation and the 
McGovern-Dole international school feeding program.  

    *   Other amendments that add funding to nutrition: The security of  
funding for nutrition program improvements is at stake. There will be several  
amendments offered to increase funding for nutrition programs and help address  
the funding "sunset" problem in the Senate Agriculture Committee bill.  

    *   Senators should support amendments that build on the improvements 
made in  the Agriculture Committee bill. 
Many Bread for the World members received our email action of December 7 or  
saw our Web page alert about this breaking news. By the morning of December 
11,  more than 1,500 calls to Senate offices had already been made through our  
toll-free number. Thank you, and please keep the calls coming until the Senate 
 passes its farm bill.   
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Take Action
Please contact both your senators as soon as possible and urge them to  
support amendments that will improve the 2007 farm bill. 
Points to make: 
    *   Please vote for the Dorgan/Grassley and Brown/Sununu amendments. Also 
 support other amendments that add funding to nutrition programs. 

    *   More than 35 million Americans -- including more than 12 million 
children  -- struggle to put food on the table. The new investments made in the 
Food  Stamp Program by the Agriculture Committee bill are not secure; in fact, 
they  will be taken away in five years. Please ensure that nutrition title  
improvements do not sunset in 2012.

    *   Current farm and rural development programs are not serving the 
urgent  needs of rural America, where rates of hunger and poverty are higher. 
Please  prioritize the needs of poor rural Americans as you write the 2007 farm 
bill.  
Capitol Hill Switchboard: 202/224-3121 
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