[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 114 (Thursday, August 5, 1999)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1751-E1752]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 INTRODUCTION OF THE ELECTRONIC BENEFIT TRANSFER INTEROPERABILITY AND 
                        PORTABILITY ACT OF 1999

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. BOB GOODLATTE

                              of virginia

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, August 4, 1999

  Mr. GOODLATTE. Mr. Speaker, today I introduced the Electronic Benefit 
Transfer Interoperability and Portability Act of 1999. The sole focus 
of the bill is to allow food stamp beneficiaries the ability to redeem 
their benefits in any eligible store regardless of location. 
Beneficiaries had this ability under the old paper food stamp system 
but lost it as states migrated to an electronic benefits transfer 
system.
  Under the old paper food stamp system, recipients could redeem their 
food coupons in any authorized food store anywhere in the country. For 
example, a food stamp recipient living in Bath County, VA could use 
their food stamps in their favorite grocery store even if it happened 
to be in West Virginia. Similarly, a recipient living in Tennessee 
could visit their Mother in Virginia and purchase food for their 
children while away from home. Unfortunately, as we move to electronic 
delivery of benefits, this is currently not the case. My bill provides 
for the portability of food assistance benefits and allows food stamp 
recipients the flexibility of shopping at locations that they choose.
  Across the country we are finding that people live in one state and 
shop in another. This cross border shopping is conducted for a variety 
of reasons. One of them is convenience, another is the cost of goods. 
The supermarket industry is a very competitive industry. Every week 
stores advertise specials in newspaper ads across the country. People 
not only shop at locations convenient to them but also shop around for 
the best prices. Customers paying with every type of tender except EBT 
have the flexibility to shop where they choose. Why shouldn't 
recipients of food assistance benefits be allowed to stretch their 
dollars in the same way that other consumers do, without regard to 
state borders?
  EBT potability is simply allowing recipients of benefits under the 
food stamp program to redeem those benefits without regard to state 
borders at the stores they choose. In addition to portability, my 
legislation allows for the interoperability of EBT transactions. 
Interoperability can be simply defined as the ability of various 
computers involved in authorizing, routing and settling an EBT 
transaction to talk to each other.
  I offered a Sense of the Congress Amendment to the Welfare Reform 
bill that Congress passed in 1996. My amendment urged states to work 
together to achieve a seamless system of food stamp benefit redemption. 
States did a decent job considering the circumstances. They are now 
asking for an extra nudge to realize the goal of my earlier amendment.

[[Page E1752]]

  My legislation requires states to conform their EBT standards to a 
national, uniform operating system that the states themselves choose. 
The clear choice, the Quest operating system, has already been adopted 
by 33 states.
  Pilot studies have been conducted to determine cost and other 
efficiencies that might be realized by EBT interoperability. The pilot 
program determined my bill would only cost the Food Stamp Program 
$500,000. That's not a lot of money for an $18 billion program. Also, 
the State of Missouri found around $32 million in abuse of the program 
that they never would have found if their EBT system couldn't talk with 
neighboring state systems.
  Mr. Speaker, the bill I introduce today is simple. It returns the 
national redemption convenience to the beneficiaries of the program, 
gives the states the guidance they are looking for, and provides 
another tool in the fight against fraud, waste and abuse in the Food 
Stamp Program. Thank you for this time and I urge support from the 
membership for the Electronic Benefit Transfer Interoperability and 
Portability Act of 1999.

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