[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 782 Introduced in House (IH)]






109th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 782

To amend the Agriculture and Consumer Protection Act of 1973 to assist 
 the neediest of senior citizens by modifying the eligibility criteria 
 for supplemental foods provided under the commodity supplemental food 
  program to take into account the extraordinarily high out-of-pocket 
   medical expenses that senior citizens pay, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           February 10, 2005

 Ms. Loretta Sanchez of California (for herself, Mr. George Miller of 
  California, Ms. Kaptur, Mr. Cummings, Mr. Conyers, Mr. Schiff, Ms. 
 Millender-McDonald, Mr. Serrano, Mr. Kildee, Mr. Abercrombie, and Mr. 
   Wexler) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                        Committee on Agriculture

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend the Agriculture and Consumer Protection Act of 1973 to assist 
 the neediest of senior citizens by modifying the eligibility criteria 
 for supplemental foods provided under the commodity supplemental food 
  program to take into account the extraordinarily high out-of-pocket 
   medical expenses that senior citizens pay, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Senior Nutrition Act of 2005''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds that--
            (1) senior citizens in the United States have significant 
        out-of-pocket costs for medical expenses, especially for 
        prescription drugs;
            (2) 3 in 5 Medicare beneficiaries do not have dependable, 
        affordable, prescription drug coverage;
            (3) as medical costs continue to rise, many senior citizens 
        are forced to make the difficult choice between purchasing 
        prescription drugs and purchasing food;
            (4) the commodity supplemental food program provides 
        supplemental nutritious foods to senior citizens in a number of 
        States and localities;
            (5) under the commodity supplemental food program--
                    (A) women, infants, and children with household 
                incomes up to 185 percent of the Federal Poverty Income 
                Guidelines published annually by the Department of 
                Health and Human Services may be eligible for 
                supplemental foods; but
                    (B) senior citizens are ineligible for supplemental 
                foods if their household incomes are greater than 130 
                percent of the Federal Poverty Income Guidelines;
            (6) during fiscal year 2000--
                    (A) an average of more than 388,000 people each 
                month participated in the commodity supplemental food 
                program; and
                    (B) the majority of those participants, 293,000, 
                were senior citizens; and
            (7) in order to serve the neediest senior citizens, taking 
        into account their high out-of-pocket medical (including 
        prescription drug) expenses, the eligibility requirements for 
        the commodity supplemental food program should be modified to 
        make more senior citizens eligible for the supplemental foods 
        provided under the program.

SEC. 3. ELIGIBILITY OF ELDERLY PERSONS UNDER THE COMMODITY SUPPLEMENTAL 
              FOOD PROGRAM.

    (a) In General.--Section 5 of the Agriculture and Consumer 
Protection Act of 1973 (7 U.S.C. 612c note relating to Public Law 93-
86) is amended--
            (1) in the first sentence of subsection (d)(2)--
                    (A) by striking ``provide not less'' and inserting 
                ``provide, to the Secretary of Agriculture, not less'';
                    (B) by inserting ``, or such greater quantities of 
                cheese and nonfat dry milk as the Secretary determines 
                are necessary,'' after ``nonfat dry milk''; and
                    (C) by striking ``2007 to the Secretary of 
                Agriculture'' and inserting ``2007''; and
            (2) in subsection (i)--
                    (A) by redesignating paragraphs (1), (2), and (3) 
                as subparagraphs (A), (B), and (C), respectively, and 
                indenting appropriately; and
                    (B) by striking ``(i) Each'' and inserting the 
                following:
    ``(i) Programs Serving Elderly Persons.--
            ``(1) Eligibility.--An elderly person shall be eligible to 
        participate in a commodity supplemental food program serving 
        elderly persons if the elderly person is at least 60 years of 
        age and--
                    ``(A) is eligible for food stamp benefits under the 
                Food Stamp Act of 1977 (7 U.S.C. 2011 et seq.); or
                    ``(B) has a household income that is less than or 
                equal to 185 percent of the most recent Federal Poverty 
                Income Guidelines published by the Department of Health 
                and Human Services.
            ``(2) Provision of information.--Each''.
    (b) Conforming Amendment.--Section 5(g) of the Agriculture and 
Consumer Protection Act of 1973 (7 U.S.C. 612c note relating to Public 
Law 93-86) is amended by striking ``(as defined by the Secretary)'' and 
inserting ``described in subsection (i)(1)''.
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