[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 74 (Wednesday, June 14, 2000)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E999-E1002]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        APPALACHIAN HUNGER TOUR

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. TONY P. HALL

                                of ohio

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, June 14, 2000

  Mr. HALL of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, every day, we are inundated by stories 
of how well the United States' economy is doing. We are told that we 
have the lowest unemployment in decades, the longest-sustained growth 
in generations and record-breaking stock markets. But our economy is 
hollow. There are many people it is leaving behind; there are many 
pockets of poverty and neglect. Our foundation is not as complete and 
secure as we might think. If we scratch the surface, we find people who 
are truly hurting.
  Last year the U.S. Department of Agriculture released shocking 
statistics that showed 31 million Americans hungry or at risk of 
hunger--one out of every nine people in this richly blessed nation. 
That number has not diminished since 1995, despite our booming economy 
and the chimera of success many interpret from the decreasing welfare 
rolls. This sad state of affairs has been confirmed by research of the 
U.S. Conference of Mayors, America's Second Harvest, Catholic 
Charities, Tufts University and my own investigations. More and more 
Americans are turning to emergency food providers to stretch their 
fixed incomes, meager salaries or ever-declining public assistance 
benefits.
  From June 1 to 3, I conducted my third domestic fact-finding visit to 
communities plagued by hunger in the past three years. I focused on 
hunger in the Appalachian region by returning to sites in southern Ohio 
I visited in 1998 and then venturing into eastern Kentucky and West 
Virginia at the invitation of constituents whose roots are there. I was 
joined for portions of the trip by my colleagues Rep. Ted Strickland 
(OH-6th), Rep. Bob Wise (WV-3rd), Ms. Joy Padgett, Director of Ohio 
Governor Bob Taft's Office of Appalachia, Ohio State Representative Joe 
Sulzer, and other state and local officials.
  Our work was assisted by the Dayton-based Our Common Heritage, the 
Ohio Association of Second Harvest Food Banks, the Ohio Food Policy & 
Anti-Poverty Action Center, Southeastern Ohio Regional Food Center. 
Senior citizen centers and other community groups in Logan and 
McArthur, Ohio; Ashland and Louisa, Kentucky; and Huntington, West 
Virginia also lent us their help.

                                FINDINGS


                       Emergency Food Assistance

  The data on who is hungry in America were confirmed by people who 
shared their stories with me throughout the tour. The Southeastern Ohio 
Regional Food Center in Logan, Ohio and the Congressional Hunger 
Center's Mickey Leland Hunger Fellows recently conducted

[[Page E1000]]

a needs-assessment survey of the emergency food assistance network to 
document the increased demand for food over the past three years. They 
found four primary barriers to escaping poverty are: high regional 
unemployment, a very limited number of high-paying jobs, physical 
disabilities and low levels of education.
  The three primary groups served by the network of food pantries are 
families with children, senior citizens and the disabled.
  Families with children make up 55 percent of individuals seeking food 
assistance, despite income from work and public assistance programs, 
such as food stamps and the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families 
program (TANF replaced the former Aid to Families with Dependent 
Children program, commonly known as welfare). One quarter of these 
families will lose eligibility for TANF benefits within the next six 
months because of strict time limits, imposed by the Personal 
Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act of 1996.
  Senior citizens comprise approximately twenty percent of the people 
served. Most face the catch-22 choice of paying for prescription drugs, 
rent, utilities, medical bills or food because their Social Security 
benefits and other income does not permit them to cover the cost of 
these necessities.
  Households with disabled individuals represent two-thirds of food 
recipients, despite the face that more than half receive food stamps.
  Social Security, food stamps, TANF, Supplemental Security Income and 
unemployment insurance are the federal programs that were designed to 
keep their recipients from falling through the cracks. Unfortunately, 
people who are playing by the rules now still are not able to make ends 
meet. I heard from some of them at an emotional community roundtable.
  Darryl and Martha Wagner are two ordinary people who find themselves 
requiring assistance from the CHAPS food pantry in Logan. Darryl just 
turned 70 and receives about $1,000 each month for his retirement. They 
spend around $900 each month on rent, utilities and a car payment, and 
as Darryl said, ``the bills are piling up every day.'' Martha has 
cancer and lost her parents and her brothers to the disease. She had 
surgery eight times in the past 10 years and currently sees four 
different doctors.
  In order to get to her medical appointments, Darryl and Martha must 
drive eighty miles round-trip. Even with Medicaid, their gas and $10 
co-payments add up, so they swallowed their pride and applied for food 
stamps. After filling out an application that asked 700 questions, 
Darryl and Martha were congratulated on being entitled to $10 in 
monthly benefits!
  When an outreach worker spoke with Darryl and Martha, neither of them 
had eaten for three days. There was not a single can or box of food in 
their cupboards, after months of trying to stretch everything they had. 
Martha had watered down a can of tomato juice to last two weeks. She 
had added extra water to cans of soup to try and make it last a second 
day. They once had chicken noodle soup with no chicken and noodles made 
from one egg and a little flour. Martha would often lie to her husband 
and say that she wasn't hungry so that he could eat. ``We never asked 
for help,'' they said, until the doctor gave her two days to live if 
she did not start eating again. The food pantry helped them with a few 
bags of groceries, and for now, they say, ``we don't have to add water 
to everything because we can eat again.''
  Priscilla Stevens is someone else who told me why she relies on the 
CHAPS food pantry. She has been diagnosed with the debilitating 
condition of lupus since 1984, and after a period of remission, 
experienced a relapse in 1997. In addition to lupus, she also has 
multiple sclerosis and Cushing's Disease, which require her to take 26 
different medications every day. After receiving some state disability 
assistance, she has now been denied three times for federal Social 
Security Disability Insurance and is appealing in court, although she 
was on a ventilator when she was first denied. She survives on a measly 
$258 per month--$115 in disability assistance, $127 in Food Stamps and 
$16 for a utility allowance. Her disability is so severe that she 
requires a home health aide eight hours a day and she cannot even sign 
her own name. Instead, she has a rubber stamp of her signature to affix 
to necessary documents. Fortunately, Medicaid covers her medical bills 
that run in the thousands of dollars every month. ``It's been really 
hard and it's getting harder every day,'' she told me. ``They say I'm a 
miracle and I want to tell people about my story.''
  I am sorry to say that they are not alone. I also heard from Mike 
Miller who was doing all he could to get a job and earn his living. But 
when his car got a flat tire, he was fired from his temporary job at 
the mushroom plant. And then when he went to his sister-in-law's 
funeral to pay his last respects, he was fired from his next job. He is 
willing to work, but he said, ``you get to a point where you give up 
hope.'' Reverend Mel Franklin of the CARE Outreach food pantry in 
McArthur has been doing all that he can to assist Mike, including 
paying for new tires out of his own pocket.
  Little Cantrell Roberts was there at the same food pantry. He was 
eight weeks old, being cared for by his great grandmother, because his 
mother, a U.S. Marine, had been shipped off to Okinawa and his 
grandmother was busy working at WalMart. Norma Miller was thrilled to 
get off welfare when she got a job. But when she took her child out of 
day care because of child abuse by the staff, she lost her job and was 
sanctioned by the human services office. ``Just because folks are off 
welfare doesn't mean they're making it,'' she explained to me, as a 
counter to those who would interpret declining participation as 
success. Speaking at initial registration for the Commodity 
Supplemental Feeding Program at CARE Outreach, she said, ``we 
appreciate the food--it's just like Christmas.''
  The Spradlin family depends on the Ashland Community Kitchen lunch 
program to supplement Jeff's $6 an hour job and help to feed their two 
children. Although their children have health insurance, they have no 
coverage whatsoever and pray that they don't get sick. Their four year-
old son Andrew did not utter a single word throughout our breakfast 
together, probably because the chronic poor nutrition has taken a 
deeper toll on him beyond just an empty stomach. When school ends later 
this week, his seven year-old sister Britney will no longer be able to 
enjoy school lunch and breakfast, so she will join her family at the 
kitchen.
  The Penningtons are trying to make ends meet but Charley's job with 
the Census Bureau ends next month. He's not sure how he will be able to 
care for his 83 year-old mother with no income, other than $800 a month 
in Social Security, state retirement and food stamps. Charley needs new 
eyeglasses but does not have any money to spare. Imogene has cut back 
on her medications already ``we could not do without the kitchen.'' If 
we did not come here, we would not be able to afford car insurance.'' 
Some months, the family doesn't pay their insurance premium so that 
they can pay their rent instead. One of their fellow diners is homeless 
and about to turn 60. He is a Navy veteran who has no income 
whatsoever, besides the few dollars he is able to earn doing odd jobs. 
``This is the only food I get,'' he said matter-of-factly, ``Weekends, 
I don't eat.'' He was quick to point out, ``I'm not the only one like 
this, there are plenty more.''


                       Elderly Nutrition Programs

  In addition to the individuals who need emergency food assistance, I 
met with dozens of senior citizens who depend on the elderly nutrition 
programs for survival. Most make tough decisions every week: do I pay 
for food or medicine? Through the expired Older Americans Act and 
USDA's Food and Nutrition Service, the federal government provides 
crucial funding for Meals-on-Wheels and congregate meals. In addition 
to this funding, local senior citizen centers also get state 
appropriations and raise private donations to provide their 
constituents with necessary services. But their reimbursement rates 
have been declining steadily for the past decade. They are having to do 
more with less, just like the older Americans they serve.
  Representative Strickland and I delivered lunch to Ray Wallace in his 
tiny ramshackle apartment, provided by the Southeastern Ohio Regional 
Food Center Meals-on-Wheels program. He is in his 80s after working as 
a truck driver for 40 years. ``The meals help out quite a bit,'' Mr. 
Wallace told us. He has difficulty getting around and, after falling in 
his home, he spent hours on the floor until he was able to pick himself 
back up. His top concern is the growing cost of his prescriptions; he 
knows that he will not be able to afford all of them and is preoccupied 
trying to decide which one he can risk skipping.
  Bernice Miller, who is 87, does not get out of her subsidized 
apartment very much. She suffers from asthma, severe allergies and has 
been recovering slowly from a recent stroke. Fortunately her nephew, 
who works at the food bank in Logan, takes care of her as best he can. 
Even with his help, she has just $800 each month to spend and almost 
half of that goes for medication. Even with her housing subsidy, she 
pays more than 25 percent of her income for rent and utilities. ``The 
meals are good and good for you,'' she said in a voice that was weak, 
but determined. When we thanked her for allowing us into her living 
room, she echoed the common Appalachian courtesy, saying, ``my father 
taught me not to close the door on anyone.''
  I never got a chance to meet Tom Nelson. He is one of the tens of 
millions of poor Americans we don't see. He was an older man who worked 
at a food bank in Huntington, West Virginia, handing out one grocery 
sack of canned food to people who can't feed their families on what 
they earn. He worked at the Huntington Area Food Bank out of the 
goodness of his heart, but also because the job paid him a little extra 
a month so that he could feed his own family.

[[Page E1001]]

  A few months ago, the food bank wasn't able to pay Mr. Nelson any 
longer--primarily because it has not received funding promised by West 
Virginia for nearly a year. To stretch his Social Security check to 
cover groceries, Mr. Nelson tried to stretch his blood pressure 
medicine. The cause of his death was listed as heart attack, but the 
truth is he died trying to feed this family.
  These are among the fortunate seniors. Hundreds more don't get home-
delivered meals because they live in isolated places that are hard to 
reach. Others still wait on long lists; many die before they ever get a 
home-delivered meal. The SE Ohio Regional Food Center has already cut 
its costs and improved its efficiency as much as it can; it simply does 
not receive enough money to provide meals for everyone who is eligible. 
Outreach workers know of senior citizens who go days without food, 
because they just do not have enough money to pay for everything. Food 
insecurity is characterized by the tough choices between buying food or 
paying all of the other bills. Hunger is the result of choosing food as 
the item to cut from the family's budget.

                              CONCLUSIONS

  Welfare as we knew it has ended. The Personal Responsibility and Work 
Opportunity Act of 1996 is the law of the land, but it is implemented 
differently in every state. That means that Ohio Works First, the state 
TANF program, has 88 different manifestations for each county's 
department of human services. While I support the principle that every 
person who can work, should work, we have gone too far and not far 
enough. The drive to cut the welfare rolls has produced an atmosphere 
where the poor are treated as criminals. One county director of human 
services was ashamed at the way the state is demonizing the poor, 
punishing them simply for asking for assistance. He was not surprised 
that people were unwilling to return to government offices for 
demeaning treatment and instead turning to food pantries.
  I was disappointed in the private sector to hear that a company would 
fire an employee for attending a family member's funeral. But, I was 
outraged to hear that public assistance would be denied for such a 
cause. Another family lost its benefits because the father quit his job 
following the tragic death of their son in a school accident. In order 
to keep his family together in a time of overwhelming grief, he was cut 
off and now they have no income. While they are appealing the decision, 
their children suffer as they try to put food on the table.
  I was appalled when Darryl and Martha Wagner told me that they only 
qualify for $10 per month in foods stamps. They were required to fill 
out a 700-question application, document everything, and return every 
three months to do it all over again. I heard other stories of those 
who were denied food stamps because their car's value was more than 
$4,650 and a car loan wasn't considered in discounting its value. In a 
rural area like Appalachia, workers need reliable transportation to get 
anywhere--to work, to day care, to the store. It was sad to learn that 
federal programs established to help people in need are too often 
failing to accomplish their purpose.
  The limited number of people we met and places we visited does not 
paint a complete picture. It is a telling indicator of the nature of 
hunger in our country. Hunger is a hidden plague, but a real one. Those 
who are hungry rarely lobby for help or speak about their plight, too 
often they are ashamed and don't have the wherewithal to speak out. 
Hunger is hidden because the majority of Americans are comfortable and 
do not want to know about those in need. Policy makers and journalists, 
those who could make the biggest difference, are guilty of ignoring 
Americans who most need our attention.

                            RECOMMENDATIONS

  (1) Food banks and the front-line emergency food-providing agencies 
who are feeding hungry and poor people should be given the food and 
resources they need to address the
  (2) The federal elderly nutrition programs are in sore need of 
attention. The Older Americans Act, which authorizes the Meals-on-
Wheels and Congregate Meals programs, has not been reauthorized in more 
than seven years. We need to put these essential programs back on solid 
ground. Congress also needs to increase the meal reimbursement rate 
immediately. Despite a slight increase in funding over the past couple 
of years, the steep rise in demand for meals and their increasing cost 
of providing these services has hurt senior nutrition sponsors in their 
quest to provide nutritious meals to senior citizens. The current rate 
of USDA reimbursement is a shameful $.54 per meal, a drop of 35 percent 
in real value since 1993. This puts the organizations dedicated to 
serving our seniors in a precarious position and is an immoral policy 
toward ``the Greatest Generation.'' Seniors can only hold so many bake 
sales to pay for these costs. These meals ultimately reduce the overall 
federal expenditures required for long-term nursing home care by 
helping our seniors to maintain independent living situations. As we 
know, nutrition is the cheapest form of medicine.
  (3) The food stamp program, America's first line of defense against 
widespread hunger, requires some essential changes. Some of these 
adjustments must be made on the federal level, but states already have 
the authority to make some of these improvements on their own.
  First, the vehicle allowance needs to be updated. Currently, if a 
food stamp recipient owns a car worth more than $4,650, his or her 
benefits will be slashed or revoked. In rural and suburban areas, 
reliable transportation is essential for people to get to work--a 
requirement under welfare reform. The federal government should exempt 
the value of one vehicle from a family's asset limits.
  Second, the shelter cap deduction should be increased to permit food 
stamp recipients who spend more than 50 percent of their limited income 
on housing to deduct excessive costs when determining food stamp 
benefits.
  Third, Congress must adjust the food stamp level from the Thrifty 
Meal Plan, which pays just $.71 per meal on average, to the Moderate 
Meal Plan. This no longer reflects the true cost of feeding a family.
  Fourth, we need to guarantee a reasonable level of food stamp 
benefits, especially for the elderly and disabled. The minimum benefit 
level should be closer to $75 per person per month, not the current 
$10. It is ridiculous to put applicants through enormous hassle in 
exchange for only pennies a day.
  Fifth, the recertification process should be required once a year for 
those who are elderly or disabled living on fixed incomes. Working 
families should be recertified no more frequently than every six 
months, not every quarter. It is an extreme hardship for people who are 
working, disabled or elderly to go to an office every three months to 
provide additional documentation. The paperwork should be reduced and 
simplified to conform with other federal assistance programs. Ohio 
would greatly benefit from a universal application form, instead of the 
current 34-page, 700-question application.
  Sixth, food stamp benefits should be restored for all 18-50 year old 
unemployed adults without dependents, especially in regions of high 
unemployment. In this area of Appalachia where laborers have lost their 
lucrative jobs in coal mines or factories, they are now unable to 
access food stamp benefits.
  Finally, states need to do a much better job in assisting those who 
are eligible for food stamps to participate. During my visits, it was 
clear that states are not insuring those who are eligible are able to 
apply and participate in the program. While recognizing the need to 
reduce waste, fraud and abuse, those who apply for food stamps should 
not be made to feel like criminals or treated as less than human. These 
are people in need and should be treated with compassion and dignity. 
Office hours and procedures should be expanded to accommodate those who 
are working full-time or more than one job. It is apparent that states 
are overly focused on quality control compliance, instead of serving 
those who are categorically eligible for food stamps.

                               SUMMATION

  It is unconscionable that the richest country in the world's history 
cannot find the resources to feed its most vulnerable citizens. We find 
the money we need to pay for new weapons systems, tax cuts for those 
who are already wealthy, and everything else that we think is 
important.
  Congress has an obligation to include those in need in its focus. And 
all Americans have a responsibility to do what they can in the struggle 
to end hunger.
  I wish that I did not take this trip because there was no hunger in 
Appalachia or anywhere else in America. I wish that I did not have to 
focus so much of my time and energy on these humanitarian issues 
because there weren't any problems. I wish that we could declare hunger 
solved and move on to something else. But these are only wishes because 
hunger still stalks our proud land. Our economy and our promises are 
hollow. We must

[[Page E1002]]

do better to care for the least of these among us.

                          ____________________