[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 29 (Tuesday, March 17, 1998)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E394-E395]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             EMPTY SHELVES: 1998 SURVEY OF U.S. FOOD BANKS

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. TONY P. HALL

                                of ohio

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, March 17, 1998

  Mr. HALL of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, I commend to my colleagues' attention 
an informal survey I recently made of 60 food banks from across the 
nation. Their responses point clearly to the fact that food banks 
throughout our country are facing tremendous challenges. Despite our 
booming economy, demand is rising at surprising rates in most 
communities.
  Here in Congress, most of the talk about hunger has focused on 
welfare and the reform bill that we passed in 1996. But when you leave 
Washington, the focus shifts to the food banks. That's where hungry 
people turn when they've run out of options, and it's where the 
millions of Americans who regularly donate to canned food drives send 
their support.
  The food banks are in trouble. I am not here to rehash welfare 
reform, Mr. Speaker, and I was surprised that most food banks aren't 
interested in doing that either. As the food bank in Montgomery, 
Alabama put it, ``We are doing our best to meet the need, and we think 
in the end we will help make welfare reform work.'' A lot of food banks 
expressed similar optimism, and I share their hope. I think all of us 
do.
  Of all the ways we can make welfare reform work, food is the least 
expensive one. Job training, transportation to get to a job, child 
care, health care--these are all pricey investments. Food is an 
investment too--although some people talk as if food is like a carrot 
you dangle in front of a mule to make it go where you want it to go. 
That might work with animals, but it simply doesn't work with people.
  Hunger makes people tired. It saps their spirit and drive. It robs 
them of the concentration they need to learn job skills. It forces them 
to focus on where the next few meals are coming from--instead of on 
finding a job, or holding one. And it makes them prone to get sick, 
from every flu bug that comes around, on up to some very serious 
diseases.
  When Congress enacted welfare reform, we increased federal support 
for food banks by $100 million--but the money inserted into the gap 
between need and supply is falling far short. We originally took away 
$23 billion from food stamp recipients. But we gave just $100 million 
to food banks. With that, they are struggling to provide just a few 
days worth of emergency food to the people who've lost their food 
stamps, or whose food stamps don't last the entire month. It's just not 
enough.
  It made common sense to increase our support for food banks 
significantly, and we did just that. With evidence that this still 
falls impossibly short of what is needed--and that many food banks 
simply cannot make it without more support--it makes common sense to 
revisit the decision on the appropriate amount of additional support.
  This survey of food banks adds to the evidence of booming demands on 
food banks. It is not designed to be a statistical analysis. But it 
does provide perspective from around the country--a window on what is 
happening in communities of every size.
  What I found most striking overall is that, of the food banks that 
estimated the increase in demand for food, 70% reported demand grew 
much faster than 16%. That is the rate reported in a December 1997 
survey by the U.S. Conference of Mayors that shocked me, and many other 
Americans. And yet so many food banks are reporting even higher rates. 
I think it underscores the fact that poverty reaches beyond our cities. 
It scars rural communities and suburban ones too--a fact that many 
people overlook when they conjure in their minds the image of a welfare 
mom, or a food stamp recipient, or someone in line at the local food 
pantry.
  Beyond that, the story of hunger in America that the food banks are 
documenting is an individual one. It increasingly features working 
people, whose low-wage jobs don't pay enough to put food on the table. 
Often, it includes people for whom hunger is a symptom of deeper 
problems--of illiteracy, a lack of education, a history of substance or 
domestic abuse. But equally often it includes people who are trying to 
climb out of their problems, trying to improve their prospects and 
willing to participate in initiatives aimed at giving them the tools 
they need. And, when the story includes a food bank, it always features 
people doing the Lord's work--and in increasingly creative ways. The 
survey describes some of those approaches, and I think many of them 
deserve attention and praise.

  The food banks, and the hungry people who are doing their best to 
escape poverty, cannot do it alone. We need a range of initiatives to 
fill the gaps, and I will be using this survey to support my work on at 
least three ideas: First, and most immediately, the food banks need 
more money. I am working on a bill now, but the fact is that even 
millions of dollars would be a small investment in making sure that 
welfare reform succeeds. I'm also looking into including the 
President's request for $20 million to support gleaning initiatives, 
because food banks rely heavily on gleaned food.
  Second, we need to end the tax law's discrimination against 
charitable donations from farmers and businesses who want to donate 
food. Current law says the value of food is nothing more than the cost 
of its ingredients--which already are deducted as a cost of doing 
business.
  That means it makes no difference to the green eyeshades in 
``Accounting'' whether the food is donated or dumped. In fact, it costs 
a few pennies more to donate the food (in transportation or labor 
costs). The same is true for farmers: why not plow under unsold crops, 
if it costs you time or money to donate them instead? Many businesses 
and farmers donate food anyway--but many more probably would if we 
treat food as a charitable donation, in the same way that old clothes 
and other donated goods are treated.

[[Page E395]]

  Late last year, I introduced the Good Samaritan Tax Act, HR 2450, and 
I urge my colleagues to support that. I also am looking into ways we 
can remove obstacles to trucking companies and others who can help get 
food to hungry people.
  Third, we must increase the minimum wage. As the Latham, New York 
food bank put it, ``The fastest growing group of people being served by 
food pantries is the working poor. That is a disgrace. Minimum wage 
should lift people out of poverty.''
  There are other good anti-hunger initiatives as well, but if we are 
serious about answering the clear call of food banks in trouble, these 
three ought to be at the top of the agenda.
  Food banks have been doing the hard work on the front lines of 
fighting hunger for decades. They are supported by their communities, 
and they are the organizations that increasing numbers of citizens turn 
to. In my own state of Ohio, one in nine people seek emergency food 
assistance every month, according to a September 1997 report by the 
U.S. Department of Agriculture.
  When I visited my local food bank in Dayton recently, I was amazed to 
find it was the same place I had come often in the past. Then, the 
shelves were brimming with food--and good food too. Lately, the shelves 
have been empty, and when I visited it seemed they contained more 
marshmallows than nutritious staple foods. I was able to convince 
Kroger to make a generous donation to help Dayton's food bank. I urge 
my colleagues to see for themselves what is happening in their own 
communities, and to lend a hand in whatever way you can to answer this 
growing need.
  Increasing numbers of people are so hungry they're willing to stand 
in line for food, Mr. Speaker. I cannot rest knowing that, too often, 
there is no food at the end of that line. I urge my colleagues to take 
a look at this survey, which is available from my office, and to see 
the situation for themselves in their own communities.

                          ____________________