[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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