[Faith & Hunger] Calls Needed Today on Farm Bill - Third World, farmers, food stamps, comm food

Thu Jul 26 13:53:39 EDT 2007

There are three messages below: one from Bread for the World, Hunger  
Action's partner in the Faith and Hunger Network in NYS; one from Food Research  and 
Action Center; and one from the Community Food Security Coalition

Dear Friends,

I am sending this quick note because we have  essentially reached the make or 
break moment with our present campaign to reform  the Farm Bill. 

As you have seen in our previous e-mails, the bill  is now going to the floor 
and will come up for a vote tomorrow or Friday. There  were barely any major 
changes made to the bill and if it passes as is, it would  hardly be 
distinguishable from what was passed in 2002. Calls have been coming  in from all over 
the country and members of Congress who are trying to make a  difference 
really appreciate your efforts. However, we're not getting as many  calls from New 
York state. Your representative's vote for this amendment is  critical. It is 
time to support real reform and fairness in America's farm and  food policy.

We need you, constituents from New York, to call your  Members of Congress at 
1-800-826-3688. Urge your representative to vote for the  Fairness in Farm 
and Food Policy Amendment offered by Reps. Ron Kind and Jeff  Flake. Let 
Congress know that the House Agriculture Committee's version of the  farm bill does 
little to change the inequities of farm payments and it must be  amended. 

This is our chance to reform this bill since we will not  have an opportunity 
for another five years. 

Thanks for your  assistance, we deeply appreciate the work you do.

Derrick  L. Boykin
Northeast Regional Organizer
Bread for the World 
Northeast  Regional Office 
475 Riverside Drive, Room 1926 
New York, NY 10115  
Tel: 1-212-870-2329 or 1-866-238-0507 
Fax: 1-212-870-2328 
E-mail:  dboykin at bread.org  Web site: www.bread.org

July 26, 2007

TO:  Anti-Hunger Allies

FR:  Food Research and Action Center (FRAC)

RE:  House to Vote on Farm Bill Today; Your Calls Need to Support  Nutrition 
Title Investments

The House will take up the Farm, Nutrition and Biofuels Act of 1977 (the  “
Farm Bill”) (H.R. 2419) today under procedures passed by the House Rules  
Committee early this morning.  At stake are $4 billion (over five years) in  new 
nutrition title investments to improve Food Stamp Program benefits and  access 
and raise funding for The Emergency Food Assistance Program  (TEFAP).  
Significant anti-hunger fights loom today, as the nutrition  title’s financing is at 
issue and final passage of H.R. 2419 is in doubt.   Your help today is urgently 
needed to secure passage of H.R. 2419 nutrition  title priorities and funding.

Procedural Outlook

Under the Rule for H.R. 2419, only specific amendments will be in  order.  
House Rules Committee Member Jim McGovern (D-MA), who had sought an  additional 
$1.6 billion for the nutrition title, instead was able to secure  ten-year 
funding streams for nutrition at issue late in the process, and so will  be 
speaking in favor of the Rule and voting for the bill.    

Specific threats to the nutrition title include: opposition to the Rule on  
H.R. 2419 (the first order of business when the bill goes to the floor),  
opposition to the offsets to pay for the nutrition title improvements (contained  
in the Rule), and opposition to final passage of H.R. 2419.  No negative  food 
stamp amendments will be in order if the Rule passes.

Nutrition Title Investments

The nutrition title of H.R. 2419 would invest $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 United States.  A summary of the  
nutrition title provisions reported by the House Agriculture Committee is posted 
 at 
_http://agriculture.house.gov/inside/Legislation/110/FB/Nutrition%20Title.doc_ 
(http://agriculture.house.gov/inside/Legislation/110/FB/Nutrition%20Title.doc)  

Fight Over Nutrition Title Funding

In order to pay for the H.R. 2419 nutrition title investments, the House  
Ways and Means Committee has made a change in tax law  affecting foreign  
companies based in countries with little or no income tax..  On July 25th,  a 
controversy erupted about whether the tax law change merely closes a loophole  (as 
maintained by the majority) or raises taxes (as contended by the  minority).  
Opposition to those offsets is expected to lead to defections  among Republicans 
who formerly supported H.R. 2419.  House Agriculture  Committee Chairman 
Collin Peterson’s (D-MN) strong statement in support of the  $4 billion in 
nutrition title funding is posted at 
_http://agriculture.house.gov/list/press/agriculture_dem/st_072507.html_ 
(http://agriculture.house.gov/list/press/agriculture_dem/st_072507.html)       

Messages and Action Needed

Calls, faxes and e-mails:  Contact all House Members and urge them 1)  to 
support the nutrition title of H.R. 2419 that makes $4 billion five-year  
investments in the Food Stamp Program and The Emergency Food Assistance Program  
(TEFAP); and 2) to vote for the Rule on H.R. 2419.  To reach your Member of  
Congress, call (toll-free) 1-800-965-4701.* 

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. 

Floor Speeches:  Ask favorable House Members to speak out in strong  support 
for the nutrition title, in support for doing even more to address the  needs 
of hungry people, and against negative amendments to the nutrition  title.  
Offer Members data and anecdotal information about hunger in your  communities 
and the clients you serve and ask Members to incorporate that  information in 
floor remarks.  FRAC can help you draft talking  points.

Feedback and Technical Assistance

C-SPAN will carry live coverage of the floor debate.

For feedback about your contacts with Members of Congress or for technical  
assistance, please contact _evollinger at frac.org_ (mailto:evollinger at frac.org)  
and _eteller at frac.org_ (mailto:eteller at frac.org) .  The votes on the  rule, 
amendments and final passage could be close.  Your calls and reports  can make a 
vital difference in the outcome. 

* The toll-free number is provided courtesy of the American Friends Service  
Committee. AFSC welcomes groups to circulate and use the toll-free number in  
support of non-partisan budget goals and without linking the alert to a Web 
site  soliciting donations or actions which may be used to support partisan  
causes.
Special Farm Bill Update-
Farm Bill Passes Out of House Ag Committee:  Immediate Action Needed
July 20, 2007

Action Needed to Save Community Food Projects

Many of you know about and have benefited from the Community Food Projects  
(CFP), a program that was started 10 years ago and has been incredibly  
successful at empowering low-income communities to identify problems related to  food 
security and take action to permanently solve them with an investment from  
the federal government. In the past, the program has received $5 million  
annually in mandatory funding, meaning that groups like CFSC didn't have to  fight 
every year in order to receive money. 

Community Food  Projects is ZEROED OUT! While the House Agriculture Committee 
increased funds  for CFP to $30 million, the money is discretionary, meaning 
that it's possible  this vital program gets nothing at all when it comes time 
to dole out the money  each year. There is no money in the appropriations bill 
for FY '08, so if the  change to discretionary stands, there will be no money 
for CFP in 2008.  

Please help us save this popular and vital program. Call House  Leadership 
and your Representative RIGHT NOW!

Speaker Pelosi and Charles Rangel (D-NY), Chairman of the Ways and Means  
Committee, are at the helm of brokering any deals for new nutrition money for  
the Farm Bill. Therefore, it is important that they realize the importance of  
CFP and the need for it to retain its mandatory funding, and receive increased  
funding. Please call your Representative and ask them to continue pushing  
Rangel's and Pelosi's offices for MANDATORY funding for Community Food Projects  
in the Farm Bill. If you don't know who your Representative is or need to 
find  their number, call the Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121. 

These  quick phone calls will take less than 10 minutes of your time, but 
could make a  huge impact on whether this program continues. 

Outcomes of the House Agriculture Committee
The Farm Bill that emerged  out of the House Agriculture Committee late 
Thursday night included significant  new money for specialty crops (fruits and 
vegetables) and made some of the  necessary changes to the food stamp program. It 
did not contain meaningful  reform in the commodity title. In fact, the total 
savings from the minor payment  limitations only amounts to $50 million a 
year, a drop in the bucket compared  with the $226 billion total spending in the 
House Committee bill.  

CFSC Priorities:

Community Food Projects: CFP was included in the mark at $30 million in  
annual discretionary funds (need to be fought for every year) and no amendment  
was offered to change the funding to mandatory (funds that are included in the  
Farm Bill and don't need to be appropriated each year) because of lack of new  
mandatory funds in the Committee. We are working with Members on and off  
committee to continue pushing for mandatory funds to be included in future  
drafts of the Farm Bill.   

Geographic Preference/Local Procurement: An amendment, offered by Reps.  
Steve Kagen (D-WI) and Jeff Fortenberry (R-NE), to  allow schools to use a  
geographic preference to request local foods. The amendment can be viewed at: 
_http://www.nfu.org/wp-content/titleiv-036kagengeographicpreference.pdf_ 
(http://www.nfu.org/wp-content/titleiv-036kagengeographicpreference.pdf)  

Healthy Food Enterprise Development (HFED): An amendment, offered by Rep.  
Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), to include a local preference for loans and loan  
guarantees under the Rural Development Business and Industry Loan Program, was  
adopted by the Committee on a voice vote. The amendment, which can be viewed at 
 _http://www.nfu.org/wp-content/titlevi-020gillibrandbuylocalpreference.pdf_ 
(http://www.nfu.org/wp-content/titlevi-020gillibrandbuylocalpreference.pdf) ,  
made use of existing rural development programs to support the growth of 
local  and regional processing and distribution infrastructure. 

Other Relevant Provisions:

Farmers Market Promotion Program: An amendment was adopted to change the  
name of the program to the Farmer-to-Consumer Marketing Assistance Program and  
to outline the specific activities under the program. The funding remains the  
same as in the original draft- at $5 million for each of the first 3 yrs and 
$10  million for each of the last 2 yrs in mandatory funds. 
There were no  amendments for the Senior (or other) Farmers Market Nutrition 
Program, Farm to  Cafeteria or Urban Agriculture . 
In the Manager's amendment, the mandatory  funding for the Fresh Fruit and 
Vegetable (Snack) Program was increased to $70  million per year and to include 
35 schools in each of 50 states. 
The  committee voted to use $4 billion in funds from the Ways and Means 
Committee to  finance some of the necessary changes to the Food Stamp program, such 
as  increasing the standard and child care deductions, raising the minimum 
monthly  benefit, disregarding military combat pay, exempting retirement and 
education  savings accounts from affecting food stamp eligibility and indexing 
for  inflation the $2000 and $3000 asset limits, and mandatory funding increases 
for  the TEFAP program. These changes were in the En Bloc Amendment: 
_http://agriculture.house.gov/inside/Legislation/110/FB/en_bloc_SBS.pdf_ 
(http://agriculture.house.gov/inside/Legislation/110/FB/en_bloc_SBS.pdf) .  Amendments to 
remove the indexing of the standard deduction and the ban on  privatizing food 
stamp enrollment were rejected. Measures to remove the 5-year  waiting period 
for legal immigrants to receive food stamps were not included.  
In the Managers Amendment, organic research was extended at $25 million in  
mandatory funding per year. 
Country of Origin Labeling (COOL) for meat was  included in the Farm Bill 
with a compromise 3-tier system to account for  products of mixed origin. The 
committee went into a closed session late on  Thursday, just before passing the 
bill, leading to an announcement by Chairman  Peterson that he and Ranking 
Member Goodlatte would work out the details of the  COOL provision themselves. 
An amendment was adopted to remove a provision  added by Leonard Boswell 
(D-IA) in subcommittee, that would have banned  livestock contracts from including 
mandatory arbitration provisions , as many of  them do now. This has the 
effect of leaving many small livestock farmers without  the option of legal 
recourse against large corporate buyers that favor large  operations. 
An amendment was adopted to put into law a requirement for USDA  to create a 
uniform evaluation standard for the Food Stamp Nutrition Education  program 
(referred to in the House draft as the Secure Supplemental Nutrition  Assistance 
Nutrition Education program) across states, with no additional  funding 
needed. 

Media

Tacoma Times Union link: 
_http://www.thenewstribune.com/opinion/othervoices/story/114410.html_ 
(http://www.thenewstribune.com/opinion/othervoices/story/114410.html)   

KPFA Pacifica Thank you so much for your help and support, and  feel free to 
contact us with any questions.Radio link: 
_http://kpfa.org/archives/index.php?arch=21292_ (http://kpfa.org/archives/index.php?arch=21292) 

The Meria Show link: _www.meria.net_ (http://www.meria.net)   
<_http://www.meria.net_ (http://www.meria.net) >  

Thank you so much for your help and support, and feel  free to contact us 
with any questions.

Take care,
Steph and  Aliza

Quote of the Week from House Ag Committee Mark-Up:

"This is NOT 'No Diet Left Behind.'" 

– Chairman Peterson to Congresswoman Jean Schmidt (R-OH) and the Committee  
in response to Schmidt and Congresswoman Boyda's amendment to standardize Food  
Stamp Nutrition Education program evaluation across states.

Thanks,
Steph + Aliza

-- 
Community Food Security Coalition
110 Maryland Ave NE, Suite  #307
Washington, DC 20002
Phone: 202-543-8602
Email:   _aliza.wasserman at gmail.com_ (mailto:aliza.wasserman at gmail.com) 
_www.foodsecurity.org_ (http://www.foodsecurity.org)   

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