[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 124 (Tuesday, October 5, 2004)]
[House]
[Pages H8133-H8136]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




EXPRESSING SUPPORT OF HOUSE FOR ORGANIZATIONS PROVIDING EMERGENCY FOOD 
                               ASSISTANCE

  Mr. GOODLATTE. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to 
the resolution (H. Res. 261) expressing the support of the House of 
Representatives for the efforts of organizations such as Second Harvest 
to provide emergency food assistance to hungry people in the United 
States, and encouraging all Americans to provide volunteer services and 
other support for local antihunger advocacy efforts and hunger relief 
charities, including food banks, food rescue organizations, food 
pantries, soup kitchens, and emergency shelters.
  The Clerk read as follows:

                              H. Res. 261

       Whereas food insecurity and hunger are a fact of life for 
     millions of low-income Americans and can produce physical, 
     mental, and social impairments;
       Whereas recent census data show that almost 13,000,000 
     children in the United States live in families experiencing 
     hunger or food insecurity;
       Whereas the problem of hunger and food insecurity can be 
     found in rural, suburban, and urban America, touching nearly 
     every American community;
       Whereas although substantial progress has been made in 
     reducing the incidence of hunger and food insecurity in the 
     United States, certain groups, including the working poor, 
     the elderly, homeless people, children, migrant workers, and 
     Native Americans remain vulnerable to hunger and the negative 
     effects of food deprivation;
       Whereas the people of the United States have a long 
     tradition of providing food assistance to hungry people 
     through acts of private generosity and public support 
     programs;
       Whereas the Federal Government, through Federal food 
     assistance programs such as the Federal Food Stamp Program, 
     child nutrition programs, and food donation programs, 
     provides essential nutrition support to millions of low-
     income people;
       Whereas there is a growing awareness of the important 
     public and private partnership role that community-based 
     organizations, institutions of faith, and charities provide 
     in assisting hungry and food insecure people;
       Whereas more than 50,000 local community-based 
     organizations rely on the support and efforts of more than 
     1,000,000 volunteers to provide food assistance and services 
     to millions of vulnerable people;
       Whereas a diverse group of organizations, including 
     America's Second Harvest, the United States Conference of 
     Mayors, and other organizations have documented substantial 
     increases in requests for emergency food assistance over the 
     past year; and
       Whereas all Americans can help participate in hunger relief 
     efforts in their communities by donating food and money, by 
     volunteering, and by supporting public policies aimed at 
     reducing hunger: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the House of Representatives supports the 
     efforts of organizations such as Second Harvest to provide 
     emergency food assistance to hungry people in the United 
     States, and encourages all Americans to provide volunteer 
     services and other support for local antihunger advocacy 
     efforts and hunger relief charities, including food banks, 
     food rescue organizations, food pantries, soup kitchens, and 
     emergency shelters.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
Virginia (Mr. Goodlatte) and the gentleman from North Dakota (Mr. 
Pomeroy) each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Goodlatte).
  Mr. GOODLATTE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of this resolution, which recognizes 
the efforts of communities and faith-based groups such as Second 
Harvest to recover surplus food from restaurants and other facilities 
and donate it to local soup kitchens.
  These efforts play an important role in combating hunger, which 
afflicts far too many Americans, particularly children.
  The resolution is sponsored by the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Wolf) 
and has 43 cosponsors. As we approach the holiday season, it is 
important to acknowledge these voluntary efforts. I urge my colleagues 
to support this resolution.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. POMEROY. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I again stand in support of the ranking member, the 
gentleman from Texas (Mr. Stenholm), as he testifies before the 
Committee on Rules on behalf of his amendment that would allow disaster 
assistance similar to that passed by the Senate to be considered by the 
House tomorrow.
  I think it is very important for people to know that this bill is of 
critical importance to the district the gentleman from Texas (Mr. 
Stenholm) has represented so well for so long. They have had 
catastrophic losses from drought in 2003. And while there are some 
discussions percolating about a disaster bill for 2004, we know there 
was no disaster response for the losses suffered by farmers in 2003.
  The Senate saw fit to take care of that, and in their bill, 2003 is 
provided for. That amendment by the Senate sits in conference committee 
on the homeland security bill right now. That is why I was so pleased 
to see the Stenholm proposal come forward today, the proposal that 
would allow a farmer to choose whether the 2003 or 2004 losses would be 
covered under the bill, and in all other respects mirrors the $3 
billion package that the Senate advanced.
  I am pleased that the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Stenholm) is up in 
the Committee on Rules right now, and I am also pleased on his behalf 
to then read the statement that he would have been prepared to give on 
behalf of this legislation: ``Mr. Speaker, I rise in full support of H. 
Res. 261. This resolution

[[Page H8134]]

expresses congressional support for the vitally important work carried 
out by organizations such as America's Second Harvest in ensuring that 
needy Americans do not suffer from the pangs of hunger.
  ``In addition, it also encourages all Americans to provide volunteer 
services and other support for local anti-hunger advocacy efforts and 
hunger relief charities, including food banks, food rescue 
organizations, food pantries, soup kitchens and emergency shelters.
  ``I have long been associated with the work of America's Second 
Harvest and, in particular, with the efforts of its member food banks, 
the South Plains Food Bank in Lubbock and the Food Bank of Abilene.''
  Remember, these are the words the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Stenholm) 
was prepared to deliver as he represents his district. I am more 
familiar with the food banks in Fargo and Bismarck.
  Resuming the statement of the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Stenholm), 
``It is crucial that Congress take time to acknowledge the hard work of 
more than 1 million volunteers who strive to feed over 23 million needy 
Americans each year. These volunteers provide this necessary assistance 
in every community, large and small, rural and urban, across the United 
States. I wholeheartedly encourage my colleagues to support this 
resolution.''
  That concludes the statement that the gentleman from Texas (Mr. 
Stenholm) was prepared to make. I would add my own comments.
  What we are seeing is an unprecedented demand on food shelters, not 
just in Abilene, not just in Lubbock, but all across this country. 
There is something happening in this economy. Regardless of what the 
macrostatistics may tell you, there is a growing demand on our food 
banks.
  Now, I think that there are any number of economic indicators in this 
country, but one that deeply alarms me is this draw on the food banks.

                              {time}  2000

  This is truly the last stop for people who cannot feed their 
families.
  When we have this draw on our food banks, we know that something 
terrible is going wrong in terms of the middle-income folks slipping 
into ever-greater problems in making ends meet; and the lower incomes 
below that, falling short of such critical necessities as being able to 
buy their groceries. That is why they are showing up at these food 
shelters.
  So I appreciate this resolution and I appreciate the support of the 
gentleman from Texas (Mr. Stenholm), I appreciate the support of the 
chairman; and I urge adoption of this resolution.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. GOODLATTE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  This is a very worthy resolution and it reflects on the great work 
done by food banks and those who volunteer their efforts in the various 
food pantries and soup kitchens and restaurants that depend upon those 
food banks, including food banks in my congressional district, the 
Southwest Virginia Second Harvest Food Bank and the Blue Ridge Second 
Harvest Food Bank.
  I urge my colleagues to support the resolution.
  Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H. 
Res. 261. Currently, about 35 million Americans either don't know where 
their next meal is coming from, or they have to cut back on what they 
eat because they don't have enough money for groceries. Thankfully, 
there are organizations like Second Harvest who provide when it is most 
needed. America's Second Harvest is the largest domestic hunger-relief 
organization in the United States. The America's Second Harvest mission 
is to feed hungry people by soliciting and distributing food and 
grocery products through a nationwide network of certified affiliate 
food banks and food-rescue programs and to educate the public about the 
nature of and solutions to the problem of hunger in America.
  America's Second Harvest's network of more than 200 regional food 
banks and food-rescue organizations serves all 50 states, the District 
of Columbia, and Puerto Rico by distributing food and grocery products 
to approximately 50,000 local charitable hunger-relief agencies 
including food pantries, soup kitchens, women's shelters, Kids Cafes, 
Community Kitchens, and other organizations that provide emergency food 
assistance.
  As we approach fall and the holiday season, many of our food banks 
will not have enough food. I urge our citizens who are fortunate to 
have the necessities in life to share with their neighbors who are more 
in need--not just around the holidays when we are reminded but 
throughout the year. I hope one day Congress is able to report to our 
Nation that the number of hungry citizens in our Nation is decreasing. 
I urge my colleagues to support this legislation as a way to thank 
those organizations that have assisted in feeding the hungry for so 
many years and encourage more people to assist in this fight.
  Mr. WOLF. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my friend and Virginia 
colleague, Chairman Goodlatte for recognizing the importance of this 
resolution.
  The resolution recognizes organizations such as America's Second 
Harvest that provide emergency food assistance to hungry people in the 
United States, and encourages all Americans to provide volunteer 
services and other support for local anti-hunger advocacy efforts and 
hunger relief charities, including food banks, food rescue 
organizations, food pantries, soup kitchens, and emergency shelters. I 
hope it will help draw attention to the problem of hunger in America 
today.
  I have mixed emotions today--proud of the armies of compassion that 
are represented by organizations such as America's Second Harvest and 
sad because its been 40 years since President Johnson declared war on 
poverty and hunger . . . and yet, today, 13 million kids still live in 
households that do not have an adequate supply of food.
  I am pleased that the House is considering this resolution which will 
help draw attention to this silent tragedy. In Matthew 25, Jesus talks 
about the obligation to feed the hungry. In a world, and especially a 
nation, as plentiful as ours--it is tragic that even one child faces 
food insecurity.
  My state of Virginia is better off than many states. We are below the 
national average poverty rate of 11.6 percent. We have fewer people who 
don't have food--7.6 percent versus the national average of 10.4 
percent. Yet, hunger is still here.
  Substantial progress has been made to feed the hungry in the United 
States, yet too many Americans still go to bed hungry and feel the 
effects of food deprivation. Federal programs like the Food Stamp 
Program, child nutrition programs, and food donation programs, provide 
essential nutritional support to millions of low-income people, but the 
need remains.
  Thankfully, community- and faith-based institutions are providing 
assistance to hungry people across the country. The armies of 
compassion are working hard, but we each must do our part to join in 
and support them.
  We need to eliminate the barriers that many businesses must overcome 
when they decide to do the morally conscionable thing and donate their 
surplus goods. It's outrageous that it is more ``cost effective'' for a 
business to throw out or destroy surplus food rather than donate it to 
a local soup kitchen.
  I hope that in the midst of the facts and statistics, no one misses 
the point of this resolution--that in a land of plenty, 13 million 
children still go to bed hungry. A country which is as blessed as ours 
needs to do better.
  Mr. McGOVERN. I want to thank my good friend, Mr. Wolf, for 
sponsoring this resolution and for his leadership in the fight to end 
hunger here in the United States and around the world.
  I also want to thank Chairman Goodlatte, Ranking Member Stenholm, and 
the members of the Agriculture Committee for moving this resolution 
forward for consideration by the full House.
  I rise in support of H. Res. 261. America's Second harvest, the food 
banks that operate across the country, and the volunteers who help 
provide assistance at these organizations deserve to be recognized and 
thanked for their diligence and hard work in combating hunger in 
America.
  Mr. Speaker, I believe hunger is a political problem. There is no 
reason people--both here at home and around the world--should go 
without food. America is known as a country of plenty, and it is 
shameful that our prosperous nation still has children, veterans, 
seniors, and other individuals and families who simply do not know from 
day to day whether they will have enough to eat.
  The system of food banks throughout the United States provides a 
safety net where individuals and families can go to get a meal when 
they really need one. In my own congressional district and hometown of 
Worcester, Massachusetts, the Worcester County Food Bank provides this 
invaluable service to the people of Central Massachusetts. Jean 
McMurray, the executive director of the Food Bank, helps provide food 
for soup kitchens and food pantries throughout Worcester County.
  The food bank also runs and operates a kitchen where they prepare 
food for soup

[[Page H8135]]

kitchens and train people in food service and food preparation skills 
in order to find good-paying jobs. These are excellent programs and an 
excellent food bank, and I am so very pleasing that this resolution 
recognizes and honors the work of Jean McMurray, her staff and their 
counterparts across the country.
  Mr. Speaker, our food banks are stretched thin. Every day they are 
called upon to provide more and more assistance. Sadly, more people go 
without food every day in our country, and the safety net provided by 
these food banks, the assistance that help the food insecure escape 
starvation, is strained to the breaking point.
  As Co-Chair of the Congressional Hunger Center, I have worked closely 
with America's Second Harvest and local food banks. The Congressional 
Hunger Center, dedicated to training tomorrow's leaders in the fight 
against hunger, places Emerson Trust Fellows in food banks and other 
anti-hunger organizations across the country so that they may see and 
learn first-hand from the work carried out by these groups.
  Mr. Speaker, like my colleague Mr. Wolf, I am committed to ending 
hunger in America. We have a blueprint researched and developed by the 
Alliance to End Hunger on how Congress and the American people, working 
together, can achieve that goal. This resolution honors many of the 
groups and individuals who are on the front lines of that battle, and I 
thank Congressman Wolf once again for his leadership. I hope passage of 
this resolution will help energize this body to make a full commitment 
to ending hunger in America once and for all.
  Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of this resolution 
commending Second Harvest and other food banks around the country who 
do such a wonderful job in providing essential assistance to people who 
need it. I am thankful each and every day that they are able to provide 
help to hungry people, as are the people who receive the food.
  As the ranking member on the Subcommittee on Agricultural 
Appropriations, I have been torn over the level of funding we provide 
for our many food assistance programs. I am happy that we are able to 
provide as much funding as we do, while recognizing that there are 
still are other programs like WIC, Commodity Supplemental Feeding, and 
the Senior Farmers Market Nutrition Program, that could still use more.
  I am unhappy about the growth in these food programs because they are 
supposed to be countercyclical. If our funding levels are high, then it 
means many among us, including many who have full time jobs, are not 
doing well economically. They need these food programs to help make 
ends meet.
  Consider the following: In fiscal 2001, we provided $20.1 billion for 
Food Stamps. In the fiscal 2005 bill approved by the House in July, we 
included $33.6 billion, an increase of 67 percent in that one program. 
Do the additional 5.8 million program receiving these benefits think 
they are better off than they were four years ago?
  According to testimony provided by USDA, in 2002, 47 percent of all 
infants born in the nation--1.9 million out of 4.1 million--were 
receiving benefits under the WIC program. What happened to meaningful 
jobs for their parents?
  Last year the Toledo Blade reported of cases in which the families of 
individuals called up for active National Guard or Military Reserve 
Duty had to seek assistance from the WIC program because of lost family 
income. This is taking care of our servicemen and women and their 
families?
  A population survey from the Census Bureau found that 12.1 percent of 
Ohioans were living in poverty in 2003, up from 11 percent in 2001. 
There is definitely a connection between increases in poverty and the 
thousands of jobs that have been lost in Ohio since 2001;
  In 2003, the Toledo-Northwest Ohio Food Bank reported that food 
pantries and soup kitchens in the area served 28,000 households. By the 
end of June of this year, this number increased to 40,000 households. 
People who in past years had donated to food banks are now becoming 
recipients.
  Local grocery stores had been generous in their support of food banks 
in prior years, but because of local closures and consolidations, the 
food banks are finding that the donations they are receiving are down 
while the need for the program has increased.
  As a nation, while we support these programs of assistance because it 
is the right thing to do, no one should ignore the fact that there are 
reasons why people are on these programs. America needs more jobs that 
pay a living wage. America needs an increase in the minimum wage to be 
sure that families can live in dignity, not in despair. America needs 
to end the harsh choices we expect too many young families and too many 
elderly to make--do they pay the rent, pay for utilities, pay for 
health care, or leave money for food?
  America, frankly, needs better days than we have seen for the past 
four years.
  I ask unanimous consent to include at this point in the Record an 
article from the October 3rd issue of the Toledo Blade, entitled 
``Ranks of Area's `Invisible' Poor are Increasing''.

                 [From the Toledo Blade, Oct. 3, 2004]

           Ranks of Area's ``Invisible'' Poor are Increasing


     More Ohio, Michigan residents are living on the edge than ever

                         (By Karamagi Rujumba)

       Gary Robertson was laid off from his warehouse job eight 
     months ago. With no steady income and the bills piling up, he 
     soon lost his apartment. A couple of friends put him up for a 
     while, but that didn't last for long. So one day, he was 
     finally forced to do something he never imagined: He spent a 
     night at a men's homeless shelter at the Cherry Street 
     Mission. ``I was homeless and that was hard for me to accept. 
     I had never been to a food pantry or a shelter,'' said Mr. 
     Robertson, a native of Alabama who moved to Findlay 17 years 
     ago and got a job at an area warehouse. ``I was doing well 
     until I lost my job,'' Mr. Robertson said. He came to Toledo 
     hoping for better luck in a larger city, but has since failed 
     to find a regular job here. He has been working odd jobs to 
     make his portion of the rent for an apartment he shares. When 
     he needs food, he goes to the Cherry Street Mission's food 
     pantry. Mr. Robertson is far from alone.
       ``We are seeing an increasing number of people who rely on 
     pantries and soup kitchens, especially this year,'' said Lisa 
     Hamler-Podolski, the executive director of the Ohio 
     Association of Second Harvest Foodbanks, a Columbus-based 
     agency that donates food to food banks across the state. A 
     U.S. Census Bureau report released last month confirmed what 
     many volunteers at area food pantries and soup kitchens have 
     known for a long time--that more people in Ohio and Michigan 
     live in poverty today than in past years.


                          Area Census figures

       Poverty is defined in terms of family size and income. For 
     2003, the Census Bureau reported that a family of four living 
     on a total annual income of $18,810 or less is considered to 
     be in poverty. And statistical benchmarks show poverty is on 
     the rise in Toledo, Ohio, and Michigan: In the last Census 
     report, Toledo was ranked eighth among cities that have the 
     highest number of children living in poverty. A recent 
     population survey from the Census Bureau found that 12.1 
     percent of Ohioans were living in poverty in 2003, up from 
     11.9 percent in 2002, and 11 percent in 2001. In Michigan, 
     11.4 percent of the population was living in poverty last 
     year, compared to 11.6 percent in 2002 and 9.4 percent in 
     2001. In 2003, the Toledo-Northwest Ohio Food Bank, Inc., 
     reported that the various food pantries and soup kitchens to 
     which it distributed served 28,000 households. By the end of 
     the first six months of 2004, the same pantries and kitchens 
     reported that 40,000 households were dependent on their 
     services.
       ``The people we are talking about appear to be invisible, 
     but you see them everyday. They serve you at restaurants, 
     take care of your parents in nursing homes, and make your 
     beds in hotels,'' Ms. Hamler-Podolski said. ``They are the 
     new poor. People who have always had jobs and now, due to 
     plant closings and downsizing, find themselves struggling to 
     put food on the table.''


                        Demand high at pantries

       Julie Chase Morefield, the director of marketing and 
     operations at the Toledo-Northwest Ohio Food Bank, agreed. 
     ``The demand at area pantries and kitchens is way up and it 
     has been a problem finding enough food to distribute,'' she 
     said. Her agency serves 330 pantries and soup kitchens in 
     eight northwest Ohio counties, including Lucas, Defiance, 
     Fulton, Henry, Ottawa, Sandusky, Williams, and Wood counties. 
     ``It is worse than we have ever seen it. We've never really 
     seen numbers this high,'' Ms. Morefield said. ``There are a 
     lot of people out there who are really struggling.''
       John Urban, a retired vacuum cleaner salesman is one of 
     them. Standing in line for a food bag at the Helping Hands of 
     Saint Louis pantry in East Toledo one recent Tuesday morning, 
     Mr. Urban said his Social Security income of $900 a month no 
     longer was enough to sustain him. ``I come here once a month 
     and they give me enough food to last a couple of weeks,'' 
     said the 64-year-old, who was born on the city's east side. 
     After showing his proof of residence and income, Mr. Urban 
     was handed a brown bag stuffed with loaves of bread, bagels, 
     macaroni, spaghetti sauce, several cans of soup, and powdered 
     milk.
       The line at the pantry on this particular morning was not 
     very long. That is because it was the beginning of the month, 
     said Linda Lupien, the director of Helping Hands. ``The 
     middle and the end of the month are usually very tough 
     because that's when people run out of money,'' Ms. Lupien 
     said. ``We are seeing new faces every day and people who are 
     hitting the pantry line because they simply cannot make it 
     anymore.''
       Al Baumann, a retired pastor at Saint Mark's Lutheran 
     Church in East Toledo, is the director of the Toledo Area 
     Council of Churches, which runs the Feed Your Neighbor 
     program. ``There are a lot more people in Toledo who rely on 
     food donations. You see them everyday, but you just don't 
     know it,'' Mr. Baumann said. ``We serve more than 30,000 
     families a year through our program.'' Feed Your Neighbor is 
     a food voucher system involving 12 Toledo churches that was 
     started in 1975, when the council of churches

[[Page H8136]]

     started distributing emergency food supplies because of the 
     drastic economic downturn of the 1970s. While the current 
     economic climate is not as dire, Mr. Baumann said the number 
     of people in need of food is growing every month. ``We're 
     finding more people, even in the suburbs, who can no longer 
     make ends meet,'' he said. ``A lot of people are not aware of 
     the economic hardships their neighbors might be experiencing 
     because of the way that we are economically segregated as a 
     society.''


                          Cutting food stamps

       Drastic cuts in federal government subsidies to food stamp 
     and similar programs serving the poor is another reason that 
     more people are lining up at food pantries, Mr. Baumann 
     said. According to the Lucas County Department of Jobs and 
     Family Services, there are now 27,784 households receiving 
     food stamps and 4,574 families on cash assistance through 
     the Ohio Works First program. The county has seen a steady 
     increase in the number of people seeking cash and food 
     assistance, said Cindy Ginter, the program manager at 
     Lucas County's Department of Jobs and Family Services. In 
     2003, the county had 25,286 households on food-stamp rolls 
     and 3,736 families on cash assistance.
       ``We would like to not have seen this kind of increase, but 
     because of the economy, the numbers just keep increasing,'' 
     Ms. Ginter said. The sluggish economy also is cited by the 
     county's Women, Infants, and Children program for the record 
     number of low-income earning families that depend on its 
     services, said Tom Kuhn, the agency's director. In 1999, WIC, 
     an agency of the Ohio Department of Health's Bureau of 
     Nutrition Services, served 12,326 families in the county. 
     This year, that number has jumped to more than 15,000 
     families. ``The numbers have been steadily rising, but this 
     is the highest they have ever been,'' Mr. Kuhn said.
       Sheldon Danziger, a professor of public policy at the 
     Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy at the University of 
     Michigan, said the federal and state governments are not 
     doing enough to stave the rising numbers of people living in 
     poverty.
       The Ohio Department of Jobs and Family Services came under 
     fire last week because $431 million in federally-allocated 
     funds have been sitting unused for months in the state's 
     Temporary Assistance for Needy Families account. Director Tom 
     Hayes confirmed the funds are being held while the state and 
     counties design programs to spend the money.


                           Economic problems

       Mr. Danziger argued that it isn't because of a failure of 
     antipoverty programs that poverty has remained high for 
     Americans since the 1970s. He said it's because the economy 
     has not delivered the benefits of prosperity to all workers, 
     and because politicians and the public have lost faith in the 
     ability of government to deal with the problem of poverty. 
     ``Wage stagnation is one of the reasons that we still see 
     people lining up at food pantries,'' Mr. Danziger said. 
     ``Since the 1990s, labor market changes have meant that 
     workers with a high school education or less have had wage 
     rates that have not grown relative to the rate of 
     inflation.'' He said the government has failed to implement 
     public policies like a higher minimum wage adjusted for 
     inflation, which would be the quickest way to help people who 
     are struggling. The last time the minimum wage was adjusted 
     was in 1997, when it was raised to $5.15 per hour. If it were 
     to be adjusted to current inflation, the professor said, the 
     minimum wage would be $6.10 per hour.


                        Global poverty increase

       Mr. Danziger said the gap between the rich and poor is not 
     only increasing here, but in many developing nations of the 
     world where more than a billion people continue to face 
     extreme poverty. According to a report released by the World 
     Commission on the Social Dimension of Globalization in 
     February, more than a billion people lived on less than $1 
     per day in 2000. The commission, which was established in 
     2002 by the International Labor Organization, a United 
     Nations agency, reported the gap between the richest and 
     poorest countries has widened dramatically in the past four 
     decades. In the U.S., increasing unemployment benefits and 
     implementing more tax credit programs for low-wage earners 
     would be a critical step in helping the unemployed get back 
     on their feet, Mr. Danziger said. According to the Center on 
     Budget and Policy Priorities, a Washington think tank, 17 
     States and the District of Columbia so far have enacted 
     earned income tax credits for low income residents, which 
     supplement the federal government credits.
       Ohio and Michigan, however, are not among them.
       These tax credits, Mr. Danziger argued, go a long way in 
     meeting day-to-day expenses for low-wage earners. George 
     Garcia, a Toledo truck driver, said he could have used some 
     help when he almost lost his house after breaking both his 
     legs in an accident that left him unemployed for more than 
     six months. ``I was down to the last week and $1,500 behind 
     on my mortgage. I had to tell the children that we were about 
     to lose our home,'' said the 39-year-old father of three. 
     After borrowing from several friends, he kept the family's 
     home. But because he had no health insurance, he spent all 
     his money on medical bills and had to turn to the Cherry 
     Street pantry for food. ``The pantry was great. I always got 
     enough food and when I took it home, it was like I had just 
     come from the grocery store,'' he said. Though he now makes 
     enough to support his family most of the time, Mr. Garcia 
     acknowledged that ``every now and then, I have to go to the 
     pantry to get by.''

  Mr. GOODLATTE. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Murphy). The question is on the motion 
offered by the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Goodlatte) that the House 
suspend the rules and agree to the resolution, H. Res. 261.
  The question was taken; and (two-thirds having voted in favor 
thereof) the rules were suspended and the resolution was agreed to.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

                          ____________________