[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 90 (Tuesday, June 26, 2001)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6921-S6922]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
By Mr. SMITH of Oregon (for himself and Mr. Bingaman):
S. 1098. A bill to amend the Food Stamp Act of 1977 to improve food
stamp informational activities in those States with the greatest rate
of hunger; to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry.
Mr. SMITH of Oregon. Mr. President, I rise today to introduce the
State Hunger Assistance in Response to Emergency or SHARE Act of 2001.
I introduce this bill because it is a tragedy, that in this land of
plenty, people across America go to bed hungry. It is high time that
Congress do something to combat this tragedy.
Over the past few years, my home State of Oregon has seen an
unprecedented economic boom--as has much of the country. Our silicon
forest has grown by leaps and bounds; unemployment has dropped, and our
welfare rolls have been reduced by half. But this prosperity has not
reached all Oregonians. Oregon has the appalling distinction of having
the highest rate of hunger in the nation, according to the USDA. That
means that per capita, more people in Oregon go without meals than in
any other State. I think that it may surprise some of my colleagues to
learn that many of their home States suffer from severe hunger problems
as well.
Perhaps the most tragic aspect of America's hunger problem is that it
can be prevented. Federal programs,
[[Page S6922]]
like Food Stamps and WIC, can help families fill the gap between the
size of their food bill and the size of their paycheck, but too many
people don't know that they qualify for the help available to them
through these programs. This is especially true in the rural areas of
Oregon, which is also home to most of my State's hungry citizens. Help
exists for hungry people, and I want to make sure every American knows
about the resources the Federal Government has already made available
to them.
The Food Stamp Act of 1977 authorized the Secretary of Agriculture to
provide states with up to 50 percent of the costs of informational
activities related to program outreach; however, because the remaining
50 percent of the funds for these limited outreach activities must be
supplied by the State, most States do not participate.
To ensure that more Oregonians and hungry people across the country
take advantage of the resources available to them, the SHARE Act will
provide additional funds to the 10 hungriest states, as named by the
USDA, to help those in need learn about and sign up for federal food
assistance programs. The SHARE bill authorizes the Secretary of
Agriculture to make grants of up to $1 million to these states for 3
years. States can use these flexible funds for outreach--anything from
distributing informational flyers at community health clinics to
funding staff to help people fill out application forms. In addition,
the bill will allow the Secretary of Agriculture to make grants
available to States with particularly innovative outreach demonstration
projects, so that we can find the best ways to combat hunger.
In a country as blessed with abundance as ours, no family should go
hungry simply because they lack the information they need to get help.
When passed, the SHARE Act will give Oregon and other states an
opportunity to devise new and innovative programs that will allow the
needy in our states to get the help they so desperately need. The idea
behind this legislation is not very complicated--I simply want to make
people aware of the food assistance already available to them--but I
believe that this bill is as important as any we will consider in the
Senate this year. With the help of my colleagues, we can stem the tide
of this very preventable tragedy.
Mr. BINGAMAN. Mr. President, extreme forms of hunger in American
households have virtually been eliminated, in part due to the Nation's
nutrition-assistance safety net. Less severe forms of food insecurity
and hunger, however, are still found within the United States and
remain a cause for concern. The Food Stamp Program provides benefits to
low-income people to assist with their purchase of foods that will
enhance their nutritional status. Food stamp recipients spend their
benefits, in the form of paper coupons or electronic benefits on debit
cards, to buy eligible food in authorized retail food stores. Food
stamp recipients, or those eligible for food stamps, cross the life
cycle. They include individuals of all ages, races and ethnicity in
both urban and rural settings.
As a result of the National Nutrition Monitoring and Related Research
Act of 1990, the nutritional state of the American people has been
closely monitored at State and local levels. We know that food
insecurity is a complex, multidimensional phenomenon which varies
through a continuum of successive stages as the condition becomes more
severe. As the stage of food insecurity and hunger progresses, the
number of affected individuals decreases. It is important for us to
identify the stages of food insecurity and hunger as early as possible
and, thus, continue to avoid the more severe stages of hunger. This
means that we will need to focus on a much larger population base with
a less dramatic stage of the condition which may be more difficult to
identify. Fortunately, current tools to document the extent of food
insecurity and hunger caused by income limitations are sensitive and
reliable.
We must continue developing tools to document the extent of poor
nutrition attributable to factors other than income limitations, like
inadequate consumption of fruits and vegetables and overconsumption of
sugar, fat, and empty calories. In the meantime, The State Hunger
Assistance in Response to Emergency Act of 2001 (SHARE) would take
information which is already being collected by the Department of
Agriculture and allow the 10 States with the greatest rate of hunger to
access funds to perform enhanced outreach activities for the food stamp
program.
The goal of the food stamp nutrition education program is to provide
educational programs that increase the likelihood of all food stamp
recipients making healthy food choices consistent with the most recent
dietary advice. States are encouraged to provide nutrition education
messages that focus on strengthening and reinforcing the link between
food security and a healthy diet. Currently USDA matches the dollars a
State is able to spend on its Food Stamp nutrition education program.
This nutrition education plan is optional but participation has
increased from five State plans in 1992 to 48 State plans in FY 2000.
This bill expands the allowable outreach activities for the States
with the worst statistics and would allow up to $1 million per State
with 0 percent match requirement. In exchange for this unmatched money,
the State must submit a report that measures the outcomes of food stamp
informational activities carried out by the State over the 3 years of
the grant. In addition, up to five States with innovative proposals for
food stamp outreach could be selected by the Secretary of Agriculture
for a demonstration project to receive the same amount of money over 3
years.
I have always been proud to represent my home State of New Mexico in
the United States Senate. Unfortunately New Mexico has one of the worst
hunger statistics in the nation. I think it is my duty to advocate for
the New Mexicans that I represent as well as all Americans who are at
risk for experiencing hunger, including those from Oregon, Texas,
Arkansas and Washington who share similar statistics.
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