[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 95 (Wednesday, June 30, 1999)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7937-S7938]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. HARKIN (for himself, Mr. Hatch, and Mr. McConnell):
  S. 1307. A bill to amend the Food Stamp Act of 1977 to permit 
participating households to use food stamp benefits to purchase 
nutritional supplements providing vitamins or minerals, and for other 
purposes; to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry.


         food stamp vitamin and mineral improvement act of 1999

  Mr. HARKIN. Mr. President, today I am pleased to be joined by Senator 
Hatch and Senator McConnell in introducing the Food Stamp Vitamin and 
Mineral Improvement Act of 1999.
  Mr. President, this bipartisan legislation is very simple and I 
believe makes just plain common sense. It would give those Americans 
using food stamps the ability to purchase vitamin and mineral 
supplements for themselves and their families.
  The change called for in this legislation has been supported by a 
broad coalition of groups and nutrition experts. For example, it is 
backed by the Alliance for Aging Research, the Spina Bifida Association 
of America, the National Osteoporosis Foundation and the National 
Nutritional Foods Association. Nutrition experts such as Dr. Paul 
Lachance, Chair of the Department of Food Science at Rutgers 
University, Dr. Jeffrey Blumberg of Tufts University, Dr. Charles 
Butterworth, Director of Human Nutrition at the University of Alabama 
Birmingham, and Dr. Dennis Heldman, Chair of the Department of Food 
Science and Human Nutrition at the University of Missouri have also 
called for making this common sense change to food policy.
  Mr. President, I believe this legislation would contribute 
substantially to improving the nutrition and health of a segment of our 
society that too often falls below recommended levels of nutrient 
consumption.
  Scientific evidence continues to mount showing that sound nutrition 
is essential for normal growth and cognitive development in children, 
and for improved health and the prevention of a variety of conditions 
and illnesses.
  Studies have also shown, unfortunately, that many Americans do not 
have dietary intakes sufficient to meet even the conservative 
Recommended Daily Allowances or RDA's for a number of essential 
nutrients. Insufficient dietary intakes are especially critical for 
children, pregnant women and the elderly.
  A recent study conducted by the Tufts University School of Nutrition, 
and based on government data, showed that millions of poor children in 
the United States have dietary intakes that are well below the 
government's Recommended Daily Allowance for a number of important 
nutrients. The study found that major differences exist in the intakes 
of poor versus non-poor children for 10 out of 16 nutrients (food 
energy, folate, iron, magnesium, thiamin, vitamin A, vitamin B6, 
vitamin C, vitamin E, and zinc). Moreover, the proportion of poor 
children with inadequate intakes of zinc is over 50 percent; for iron, 
over 40 percent; and for vitamin E, over 33 percent.
  For some nutrients, such as vitamin A and magnesium, the proportion 
of poor children with inadequate intakes is nearly six times as large 
as for non-poor children.

  Pregnant women also have high nutritional needs. Concerns about 
inadequate folate intake by pregnant women prompted the Public Health 
Service to issue a recommendation regarding consumption of folic acid 
by all women of childbearing age who are capable of becoming pregnant 
for the purpose of reducing the incidence of spina bifida or other 
neural tube defects. That is why this change has long been a priority 
of the Spina Bifida Association of America.
  Furthermore, the percent of pregnant and nursing women who get the 
RDA level of calcium has dropped from just 24 percent in 1986 to a mere 
16 percent in 1994. That's 84 percent of women who aren't getting 
enough calcium--which we know is critical to preventing the 
debilitating effects of osteoporosis.
  And again, the evidence is that lower income women, many of whom are 
eligible for Food Stamps, are more likely to have inadequate intake of 
key nutrients. Women with income of 130 percent or less of the poverty 
level have higher rates of deficiencies in intake of Vitamins A, E, C, 
B-6 and B-12, as well as Iron, Thiamin, Riboflavin and Niacin than 
those with higher incomes.
  Obviously, the best way to obtain sufficient nutrient intake is 
through eating a variety of nutritious foods, but some groups--
particularly those at the greatest risk, including children, pregnant 
women and the elderly--may find it significantly difficult to obtain 
sufficient nutrient intake through foods alone. Accordingly, many 
people in our nation do rely on nutritional supplements to ensure that 
they and their families are consuming sufficient levels of key 
nutrients.
  This legislation would enable low-income people to have greater 
access to nutritional supplements to improve their nutrient intake. 
Currently, recipients of food stamps are not allowed to use those 
resources to purchase nutritional supplements. This restriction clearly 
serves as an impediment to adequate nutrition for low-income people who 
may need supplements to ensure they are consuming sufficient levels of 
nutrients. It defies common sense.
  This restriction also prevents food stamp recipients from exercising 
their own responsibility and choice to use food stamps for purchasing 
nutritional supplements that they determine are important to adequate 
nutrition for their children or themselves. It is a glaring 
inconsistency that food stamps may currently be used to purchase a 
variety of non-nutritious or minimally nutritious foods but not to 
purchase nutritional supplements. Incredibly, you can use Food Stamps 
to buy Twinkies, but not Vitamin C or a multivitamin.
  Opponents of this legislation will argue that food stamps are most 
effectively used to improve nutrition through purchasing food rather 
than nutritional supplements, and that if food stamps may be used for 
nutritional supplements, households will be less able to stretch their 
resources to purchase sufficient quantities of food.
  The available evidence indicates, however, that food stamp households 
actually make more careful and effective use of their resources in 
purchasing nutritious foods than consumers in general. Since food stamp 
households necessarily have a limited amount of money to spend on 
food--and generally already find it difficult to meet their food 
needs--they simply cannot afford to make unwise or unnecessary 
purchases of nutritional supplements using food stamps which would 
otherwise be used for food.
  In addition, a month's worth of daily multivitamin supplements can 
cost as little as one can of soda. So I believe the concerns that food 
stamps will be wasted or unwisely used for nutritional supplements is 
unfounded.
  Our proposal is also clearly consistent with the stated purpose of 
the Food Stamp program, that is to ``promote the general welfare and to 
safeguard the health of the nation's population by raising the 
nutrition among low-income households.''
  So, Mr. President, I hope that my colleagues will join us in 
supporting this legislation designed to improve opportunities for low-
income Americans to ensure adequate nutrition for their families and 
themselves. Simply put, if you think it doesn't make sense that Food 
Stamps can be used to buy twinkies and doughnuts but not Vitamin C or a 
daily multi-vitamin supplement, you should support this bipartisan 
legislation.
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that a copy of the bill be 
printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the bill was ordered to be printed in the 
Record, as follows:

                                S. 1307

       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 ``Food Stamp Vitamin and 
     Mineral Improvement Act of 1999''.

[[Page S7938]]

     SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

       Congress finds that--
       (1) the dietary patterns of Americans do not result in 
     nutrient intakes that fully meet recommended dietary 
     allowances of vitamins and minerals;
       (2) children in low-income families and the elderly often 
     fail to achieve adequate nutrient intakes from diet alone;
       (3) pregnant women have particularly high nutrient needs, 
     which they often fail to meet through diet alone;
       (4)(A) scientific studies show that nutritional supplements 
     that contain folic acid (a B vitamin) can prevent as many as 
     60 to 80 percent of neural tube birth defects;
       (B) the Public Health Service, in September 1992, 
     recommended that all women of childbearing age who are 
     capable of becoming pregnant should consume at least 0.4 of a 
     milligram of folic acid per day for the purpose of reducing 
     the risk of having a pregnancy affected with spina bifida or 
     other neural tube birth defects; and
       (C) the Food and Drug Administration has approved a health 
     claim for folic acid to reduce the risk of neural tube birth 
     defects;
       (5) infants who do not receive adequate intakes of iron may 
     be somewhat impaired in mental and behavioral development; 
     and
       (6) scientific evidence indicates that increasing intake of 
     specific nutrients over an extended period of time protects 
     against diseases or conditions such as osteoporosis, 
     cataracts, cancer, and heart disease.

     SEC. 3. USE OF FOOD STAMPS TO PURCHASE VITAMINS AND MINERALS.

       Section 3(g)(1) of the Food Stamp Act of 1977 (7 U.S.C. 
     2012(g)(1)) is amended by striking ``or food product'' and 
     inserting ``, food product, or nutritional supplement 
     providing a vitamin or mineral''.
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