[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 193 (Monday, December 17, 2007)]
[House]
[Pages H15484-H15488]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
FEDERAL FOOD DONATION ACT OF 2007
Ms. NORTON. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the
bill (H.R. 4220) to encourage the donation of excess food to nonprofit
organizations that provide assistance to food-insecure people in the
United States in contracts entered into by executive agencies for the
provision, service, or sale of food, as amended.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The text of the bill is as follows:
H.R. 4220
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Federal Food Donation Act of
2007''.
SEC. 2. PURPOSE.
The purpose of this Act is to encourage executive agencies
and their contractors, whenever practical and safe, to donate
excess, apparently wholesome food to feed food-insecure
people in the United States.
SEC. 3. PROMOTING FEDERAL FOOD DONATION.
Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of
this Act, the Federal Acquisition Regulation shall be revised
to provide that each contract in an amount greater than
$25,000 for the provision, service, or sale of food, or for
the lease or rental of Federal property to a private entity
for events at which food is provided, shall include a clause
that--
(1) encourages the donation of excess, apparently wholesome
food to nonprofit organizations that provide assistance to
food-insecure people in the United States;
(2) provides that the head of an executive agency shall not
assume responsibility for the costs and logistics of
collecting, transporting, maintaining the safety of, or
distributing such excess, apparently wholesome food to food-
insecure people in the United States; and
(3) states that executive agencies and contractors making
donations pursuant to this Act are protected from civil or
criminal liability under the Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Food
Donation Act (42 U.S.C. 1791).
SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS.
In this Act:
(1) Excess.--The term ``excess'', when applied to food,
means food that is not required to meet the needs of
executive agencies and would otherwise be discarded.
(2) Apparently wholesome food.--The term ``apparently
wholesome food'' has the meaning provided in section 2(b)(2)
of the Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Food Donation Act (42
U.S.C. 1791(b)(2)).
(3) Nonprofit organization.--The term ``nonprofit
organization'' means any organization that is described in
section 501(c) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 and is
exempt from tax under section 501(a) of such Code.
(4) Food insecure.--The term ``food insecure'' means
inconsistent access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentlewoman from
the District of Columbia (Ms. Norton) and the gentleman from California
(Mr. Issa) each will control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from the District of Columbia.
Ms. NORTON. Mr. Speaker, H.R. 4220, the Federal Food Donation Act, as
amended, is a modest measure designed to help address the very large
problem of hunger in America. In 2005, 25 million people in this
country, including 9 million children, had to rely on soup kitchens and
other charitable food programs to help meet their nutritional needs.
Introduced by Representative Jo Ann Emerson, H.R. 4220 requires
Federal agencies to include in their food service and space rental
contracts a provision that would encourage contractors to donate any
surplus food to nonprofit organizations that provide assistance to the
hungry. This bill builds on the work of some innovative nonprofit
organizations that have been conducting similar programs in the private
sector.
[[Page H15485]]
The bill also includes provisions that will ensure that costs of
collecting, transporting and storing donated food would not be borne by
the Federal Government and that executive agencies and contractors
would be protected from civil or criminal liability.
I urge my colleagues to support this bill. Together we can feed
America in this rich country.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. ISSA. Mr. Speaker, I would like to yield such time as she may
consume to the gentlelady, Mrs. Emerson, who, in her own right, is
recognized as a leader in service to the hungry and unfortunate.
Mrs. EMERSON. Mr. Speaker, with 35 million individuals, including 12
million children, either experiencing hunger or teetering right on the
verge of hunger each year, the American people expect us to take every
reasonable action possible to address this crisis.
The American people are generous with their time and with their
resources. And particularly, during the Christmas season, they're
willing to make the extra effort to donate their time at a soup kitchen
or provide groceries to a food pantry. Unfortunately, the need for
these donations is real and it's growing.
The Federal Food Donation Act is one small way the Federal Government
can mirror the everyday lives of the constituents we serve. This
legislation would require executive agencies who serve food on their
premises to encourage the donation of excess food to nonprofit
organizations. Such food rescue efforts can be particularly useful to
the more than 43,000 soup kitchens and food pantries on the front lines
battling hunger. Our constituents are willing to search through their
pantries to donate excess food, and so should we.
Mr. Speaker, I'd like to thank Chairman Waxman and Ranking Member
Davis for their efforts on behalf of the hungry. The changes to this
legislation made during committee markup are an improvement that will
enhance the scope and impact this legislation will have.
I'd also like to thank their dedicated staff for their time and
counsel in drafting this legislation.
I'd also like to particularly thank the dedicated individuals at Rock
It and Wrap It Up for their efforts in conceiving and promoting this
concept. This nonprofit organization has specialized in food recovery
and has been thinking outside the box in the battle against hunger for
years.
Mr. Speaker, the effects of rising food prices have already been felt
by our partners who serve the hungry. We learned today from the U.S.
Conference of Mayors that their constituents are seeking emergency food
aid more frequently and more homeless families are seeking shelter.
More resources are clearly needed.
The Federal Food Donation Act may be a small step in the overall
battle against hunger, but it is one worth taking.
I urge a ``yes'' vote on H.R. 4220.
Ms. NORTON. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to yield 5 minutes to Mr.
McGovern, the gentleman from Massachusetts, who led us earlier on this
very issue and succeeded in getting increases in food stamps this very
year.
{time} 1330
Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague from the District of
Columbia for yielding me the time and for her support for this bill and
for so many other important issues.
Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 4220, the Federal Food
Donation Act of 2007.
Let me begin by commending the sponsor of this legislation,
Congresswoman Jo Ann Emerson. Congresswoman Emerson is a true champion
for the hungry in this country. She's a friend who doesn't just talk
about hunger, but is a leader in the effort to fight to end hunger in
this country.
It's not an easy effort, and I know that she has to work to convince
people around this country and in this very building that there are
people who still go without food in this great Nation of ours. She's a
shining example of someone who puts partisanship aside and works
towards a goal that should be achievable.
So I want to thank Congresswoman Emerson for her steadfast leadership
on this issue and for introducing this important legislation.
I also want to thank Chairman Waxman and Ranking Member Davis and the
other members of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee for
their quick and thorough work on this bill.
Mr. Speaker, hunger is getting worse in America. More than 35.5
million people went hungry in the United States in 2006, an increase of
more than 300,000 from 2005. There are many in Congress who talk about
the booming economy and economic growth, but it is clear that millions
of Americans are not benefiting from this so-called economic expansion.
The costs of living in America are rising. Energy costs are
increasing, food prices continue to go up, and the housing crisis is
straining the budgets of middle- and lower-income families. The reality
is that many Americans are walking a fiscal tightrope where any
economic change or family crisis, like an unexpected illness or job
loss, could force people to go without food for a period of time.
That we are even talking about any person going hungry in the richest
and most prosperous Nation in the world is an embarrassment, and we
should all be ashamed for not doing more to combat hunger here at home.
H.R. 4220 is a good step in the fight against hunger. Unfortunately,
it's not going to end hunger in America, but it will provide one more
way to fight hunger.
As has already been described, the Federal Food Donation Act would
require executive agencies who serve food on their premises to
encourage the donation of excess food to nonprofit organizations. Such
food rescue efforts can be particularly useful to the more than 43,000
soup kitchens and food pantries on the front lines battling hunger. The
Oversight and Government Reform Committee broadened the scope of this
bill, and I'm especially pleased the bill was expanded to include the
Department of Defense.
The reality is that food costs are increasing; and America's food
banks, the safety net of our anti-hunger system, is straining to meet
this need. According to a new report released today by the U.S.
Conference of Mayors, requests for food increased an average of 12
percent over the last year. Yet at the same time, a recent Washington
Post article reports that the Capital Area Food Bank, the emergency
food system for Washington, DC, had only 230,000 pounds of food on its
shelves, down from 570,000 pounds at this time last year. Nationwide,
food donations to food banks are expected to fall short of the need by
15 million pounds.
Mr. Speaker, we need to do more to address and ultimately end hunger
in America. The Federal safety net developed over the years, the Food
Stamp program, Meals on Wheels, school meals and the emergency food
system, is working but it is strained. Private organizations like
Catholic Charities and the Nation's food banks, just to name two
examples, are filling the gaps where they can. It is time we commit to
ending hunger once and for all. It's time that we dedicate the
resources of our great Nation to ending this scourge. The Federal Food
Donation Act is a good first step, and I'm pleased that the House is
acting on it today.
Mr. Speaker, I insert into the Record at this point two articles
documenting the shortage of food for the hungry in this country and one
article announcing the U.S. Conference of Mayors report on hunger and
homelessness.
[From Newsweek, Nov. 26, 2007]
Blessed Is the Full Plate
(By Anna Quindlen)
One of the most majestic dining rooms in New York City is
in the Church of the Holy Apostles. After the landmark
building was nearly destroyed by fire in 1990, the Episcopal
parish made the decision not to replace the pews so that the
nave could become a place of various uses. There are
traditional Sunday services, of course, and the gay and
lesbian synagogue on Friday evenings. And every weekday more
than a thousand people eat lunch at round tables beneath 12-
foot stained-glass windows and a priceless Dutch pipe organ.
``You can't get more Biblical than feeding the hungry:'
says the Rev. William Greenlaw, the rector.
Holy Apostles has fed the hungry for 25 years now without
missing a single weekday, including the morning after the
fire, when the church lay in ruins, still smoldering, and 943
meals were served by candlelight. There's a queue on Ninth
Avenue by midmorning;
[[Page H15486]]
sometimes tourists think there's a wait for some exclusive
New York happening until they notice the shabby clothes,
piles of shopping bags and unshaven faces that are the small
unmistakable markers of poverty.
The poor could be forgiven for feeling somewhat poorer
nowadays. The share of the nation's income going to the top 1
percent of its citizens is at its highest level since 1928,
just before the big boom went bust. But poverty is not a
subject that's been discussed much by the current
administration, who were wild to bring freedom to the Iraqis
but not bread to the South Bronx. ``Hunger is hard for us as
a nation to admit,'' says Clyde Kuemmerle, who oversees the
volunteers at Holy Apostles. ``That makes it hard to talk
about and impossible to run on.''
At Holy Apostles the issue is measured in mouthfuls. Pasta,
collard greens, bread, cling peaches. But in this anniversary
year the storage shelves are less full, the pipeline less
predictable. The worst emergency food shortage in years is
plaguing charities from Maine to California, even while the
number of those who need help grows. The director of City
Harvest in New York, Jilly Stephens, has told her staff they
have to find another million pounds of food over the next few
months to make up the shortfall. ``Half as many pantry bags''
is the mantra heard now that the city receives half the
amount of emergency food than it once did from the Feds. In
Los Angeles 24 million pounds of food in 2002 became 15
million in 2006; in Oregon 13 million pounds dwindled to six.
It's a cockamamie new math that denies the reality of hunger
amid affluence.
There are many reasons why. An agriculture bill that would
have increased aid and the food-stamp allotment has been
knocking around Congress, where no one ever goes hungry.
Donations from a federal program that buys excess crops from
farmers and gives them to food banks has shrunk alarmingly.
Even the environment and corporate efficiency have
contributed to empty pantries: more farmers are producing
corn for ethanol, and more companies have conquered quality
control, cutting down on those irregular cans and battered
boxes that once went to the needy.
What hasn't shrunk is the size of the human stomach. At
lunchtime at Holy Apostles, Ernest is hungry, his hand
bandaged because he got in a fight, even though he is sober
now and has his own place in the Bronx. Janice is hungry,
too, she of the beautiful manners and carefully knotted
headscarf, who sleeps on the train on winter nights and walks
with a cane since being hit by a car. There are the two
veterans, both Marines, with the raddled faces and slightly
unfocused eyes of those who sleep outdoors, which means
mostly always being half-awake, and that group of Chinese
women who don't speak English, and the Muslim couple who sit
alone. Mostly it's single men at Holy Apostles. Some are
mentally ill, and some are addicts, and to repair their lives
would take a lot of help. But at the moment they have an
immediate problem with an immediate answer: pasta, collard
greens, bread, cling peaches.
This place is a blessing, and an outrage. ``We call these
people our guests,'' says the rector. ``They are the children
of God.'' That's real God talk. The political arena has been
lousy with the talk-show variety in recent years: worrying
about whether children could pray in school instead of
whether they'd eaten before they got there, obsessing about
the beginning of life instead of the end of poverty,
concerned with private behavior instead of public generosity.
There's a miracle in which an enormous crowd comes to hear
Jesus and he feeds them all by turning a bit of bread and
fish into enough to serve the multitudes. The truth is that
America is so rich that political leaders could actually
produce some variant of that miracle if they had the will.
And, I suppose, if they thought there were votes in it.
Enough with the pious sanctimony about gay marriage and
abortion. If elected officials want to bring God talk into
public life, let it be the bedrock stuff, about charity and
mercy and the least of our brethren. Instead of the
performance art of the presidential debate, the candidates
should come to Holy Apostles and do what good people, people
of faith, do there every day--feed the hungry, comfort the
weary, soothe the afflicted. And wipe down the tables after
each seating. Here's a prayer for every politician: pasta,
collard greens, bread, cling peaches. Amen.
____
[From the Washington Post, Dec. 8, 2007]
Cupboards Are Bare at Food Banks
(By Philip Rucker)
Area food banks are experiencing a critical shortage of
supplies as donations drop dramatically and as demand for
free and discounted food continues to soar.
The Capital Area Food Bank, the region's primary
distribution center, reported that it had about 230,000
pounds of goods on its shelves this week, down from 570,000
pounds at this time last year, officials said.
The short supplies, which are hitting food banks and soup
kitchens across the nation, stem from a combination of
factors: Federal supplies of excess farm goods have dropped,
in part because of the summer drought and because farmers are
selling more of their products internationally. Donations
from grocery stores, a major source for food banks, have
fallen as supermarket chains consolidate, increase efficiency
and tighten inventory controls.
Overall this year, the Capital Area Food Bank is projecting
totals to fall roughly 6 percent below last year's total of
19.5 million pounds. The situation has been particularly bad
in recent weeks, officials said. At the Northeast Washington
warehouse earlier this week, some refrigerated shelves,
usually stacked with produce and meats, stood empty.
``We're getting a lot less food donated from companies and
individuals,'' operations director Christopher Leal said.
``We have really nothing.''
At the same time, economic factors have conspired to force
many more people toward the brink of hunger. Calls to the
food bank's Hunger Lifeline are up about 37 percent from last
year.
And it's not just in the District. The Manna Food Center in
Montgomery County served more than 2,200 families last month,
about 200 more than the previous November. In Fairfax County,
Reston Interfaith's food service has doubled over the past
three years.
``Good, working people are having a harder time making ends
meet,'' said Kerrie Wilson, executive director of Reston
Interfaith. ``So far, we've not had to turn folks away, but
we have limited the number of times we'll help someone. . . .
You do less for more.''
America's Second Harvest, the country's leading hunger-
relief charity, is projecting a shortage of 15 million pounds
of food this year at its more than 200 network food banks.
That would be enough food to serve 11.7 million meals or fill
400 trucks.
At food banks from Maine to Florida to California, ``demand
is up, and food is flying out the door faster than ever,''
spokesman Ross Fraser said.
``Our inventories are as depleted as they've ever been
before,'' Fraser said. ``Our food banks keep calling here
saying, `My God, you've got to help us. We desperately need
help.' ''
Edward Cooney, who has been an anti-hunger activist since
1972, said he has never seen food supplies dwindling and
demand rising the way they are now.
``I've been in a few food banks, and I've looked at the
shelves,'' said Cooney, executive director of the Washington-
based Congressional Hunger Center. ``You just see huge
warehouses where you see empty shelves. Ain't nothing
there.''
About 85 percent of food donations to the Capital Area Food
Bank come from corporations, including grocery chains, chief
operating officer Brian Smith said.
Just 4 percent are from individuals, and 11 percent are
from the federal government.
Improvements in inventory controls and store-ordering
procedures among supermarket chains have limited the supplies
donated to food banks.
``Food retailers are in business to sell food and not to
have a lot of discarded food,'' said Giant spokesman Barry F.
Scher, who is also vice chairman of the food bank's board of
directors.
Although the quantity of food that Giant donates has
dropped, Scher said, proceeds from in-store campaigns in
which customers give money for the hungry are increasing. And
the Landover-based chain will continue to donate food to
charities, he said.
The shortage is exacerbated by a decline in federal
assistance. For years, food banks have relied on the U.S.
Department of Agriculture's bonus commodity program, which
buys surplus crops such as peaches and cranberries, as well
as livestock such as turkeys, ducks and bison, from domestic
farmers.
But the amounts of bonus commodities have dropped. Five
years ago, the department bought more than $200 million worth
of surplus products. In 2005, that figure fell to $154
million. This year, the agency is projecting $58 million.
``The reason that they're down, obviously, is that the farm
market is doing very well,'' said Nancy M. Johner,
undersecretary for food, nutrition and consumer services.
Johner said farmers are selling more of their products
internationally. That trend, coupled with a severe drought
that affected much of the country this year, has left farmers
with relatively few surplus crops, she said.
This is difficult news for food pantries and soup kitchens
in the Washington region, where the Capital Area Food Bank
estimates that more than 600,000 residents are at risk of
hunger.
Bread for the City, one of the District's largest pantries,
has served about 2,000 more families this year than in 2006,
executive director George Jones said.
``It's a big jump,'' he said. ``A lot of these families are
people that have some resources, are housed, and use our
resources to augment their incomes. They really are living on
the edge.''
With gasoline prices and utility rates rising and the
economy softening amid a mortgage crisis, many of the
region's working families are struggling to pay their bills
and are seeking help at food banks and soup kitchens.
Bertina Fox used to donate clothing to Bread for the City.
The 29-year-old from Northwest Washington said she never
imagined she would someday come asking for food. But when she
quit her job at an AIDS clinic earlier this year, she began
coming to Bread for the City each month for a basket of fish
and vegetables, as well as frozen pizzas and chicken nuggets
for her 5-year-old son.
``When I fell on hard times, I knew of the services
there,'' she said. ``A lot of people can't make it day to day
without them. I'm certainly one of those people.''
[[Page H15487]]
Fox was to start a new job at an area hospital yesterday.
Once back on her feet, Fox said, she hopes to start donating
to the center again.
____
[From USA TODAY, Dec. 17, 2007]
More Families Seek Aid
(By Wendy Koth)
More people are requesting emergency food aid and more
homeless families with children are seeking shelter,
concludes a 23-city survey released Monday by the U.S.
Conference of Mayors.
Four of five cities say requests for food aid rose an
average of 12% from the previous year, according to the
survey for the period covering November 2006 through October
2007. Most cities had reported a jump in such requests the
prior year as well.
Ten of 14 cities with data on homeless families say more
families with children sought emergency shelter and
transitional housing. About half of the cities say their
overall homeless problem increased. Collectively, the cities
report giving shelter to 193,183 people.
``We're heading in the wrong direction because of poverty,
unemployment and housing costs,'' says Trenton Mayor Douglas
Palmer, president of the mayors conference. He added that the
full effects of record mortgage foreclosures have yet to be
seen. The report does cite some progress. Of 11 cities with
data on homeless adults seeking shelter, five--Louisville;
Nashville; Philadelphia; Portland, Ore., and Seattle--report
a decline. Also, the length of stays in shelters and
transitional housing for single adults and families
shortened.
Last month, the federal government reported a 12% decline
in the number of chronically homeless adults who live on the
streets or in emergency shelters. The number fell to 155,623
in January 2006 from 175,914 in January 2005, according to
the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
HUD Secretary Alphonso Jackson says the numbers ``show
remarkable progress is being made.'' He attributed the
decline to better reporting and more local and federal
resources for permanent housing, health care and other
services.
Des Moines Mayor Frank Cownie takes little comfort in HUD's
numbers.
He says chronically homeless adults account for only 10% of
all homeless people. ``There are still more people needing
help.''
The mayors' report is limited because it surveys only 23
cities, each of which collects data differently, says Mark
Nord, lead author of an annual food security report by the
U.S. Department of Agriculture.
The USDA's most recent report, released last month, says 4%
of households lacked adequate access to food in 2006, about
the same as in 2005.
It also found, however, that the number of households
obtaining food from community providers rose 26% from 2001 to
2006, and the number of households having the least access to
food rose 32%, or 1.3 million, during that time. USDA data do
not include the homeless.
Most of the 205 food banks that belong to America's Second
Harvest, the nation's largest hunger-relief group, say demand
has risen at least 20% this year, according to group
spokesman Ross Fraser.
``Even in places like New Hampshire, which you wouldn't
think of as needy, the demand is way up,'' Fraser says. He
says financial contributions have held steady but food
donations, including those from the USDA, have fallen. At
this rate, he says, food banks will fall nearly 12 million
meals short this year.
CITIES REPORT RISING DEMAND FOR FOOD AND SHELTER
[Findings from November 2006-0ctober 2007]
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Number of
City Demand for emergency homeless Demand for emergency shelter or
food aid people served transitional housing
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Boston.............................. increased.............. 6,636 increased
Charleston, S.C..................... NA..................... 1,658 NA
Charlotte........................... increased.............. 9,498 NA
Chicago............................. increased.............. NA NA
Cleveland........................... same................... 13,103 NA
Denver.............................. increased.............. 71,480 NA
Des Moines.......................... increased.............. 6,068 increased
Detroit............................. increased.............. 4,738 NA
Kansas City......................... NA..................... 2,509 increased
Los Angeles......................... increased.............. 7,960 NA
Louisville.......................... increased.............. 10,933 decreased
Miami............................... increased.............. 1,100 NA
Nashville........................... increased.............. 11,213 decreased
Philadelphia........................ increased.............. 13,335 decreased
Phoenix............................. increased.............. NA NA
Portland, Ore....................... decreased.............. 3,189 decreased
Providence.......................... increased.............. 2,819 increased
Salt Lake City...................... increased.............. 4,230 increased
San Francisco....................... increased.............. 9,791 NA
Santa Monica, Calif................. increased.............. 924 NA
Seattle............................. same................... 4,360 decreased
St. Paul............................ NA..................... 5,083 increased
Trenton, N.J........................ same................... 2,459 NA
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mr. ISSA. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support and join with my colleagues in
supporting and sponsoring the gentlelady from Missouri's bill, H.R.
4220, the Federal Food Donation Act of 2007.
As Mrs. Emerson said so well, the effort to aid nonprofit
organizations to serve the hungry will be advanced by this bill and its
amendment to the Federal acquisition regulations and to encourage
Federal agencies and contractors to donate excessive foods to food
pantries, food shelters, and homes for the homeless.
This bill also seeks to protect agencies and contractors from civil
or criminal liabilities associated with these types of donations. It is
sad but true in this country that often good deeds go punished as a
result of the advent of those who would profit by suing over the good
deeds of others. This bill tries to balance those two to encourage the
good deeds of others and to shelter them from the type of adverse
behavior that might cause people to throw away food rather than give it
to the poor.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Ms. NORTON. Mr. Speaker, I'm pleased to yield 2 minutes to the
gentleman from American Samoa (Mr. Faleomavaega).
(Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA asked and was given permission to revise and extend
his remarks.)
Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. Mr. Speaker, I want to commend the gentlelady from
Missouri for her sponsorship and authorship of this important
legislation.
I do want to say that the names of Mickey Leland, Bill Emerson, Tony
Hall, I think, stand out in terms of what we did years ago, Mr.
Speaker; that perhaps maybe this Congress needs to reestablish a select
committee on hunger like we did years ago when it was chaired by Mr.
Mickey Leland from Texas and also the gentleman from Missouri, Mr. Bill
Emerson, and also the gentleman from Ohio, Mr. Tony Hall.
I believe that as a member of the committee at that time we were
very, very much into the concerns that were expressed quite eloquently
by my good friend, the gentleman from Massachusetts, the problems that
we're dealing with and the subject of hunger.
I think we are moving in the right direction, and I just wanted to
note, Mr. Speaker, that this issue of hunger really needs to be
addressed seriously. And I want to commend the gentlelady from Missouri
for her efforts, not only in continuing the legacy of her husband but
the fact that this is a very serious issue, and I wish that perhaps my
colleagues and the leadership of the House will reestablish that select
committee on hunger like we did years ago so that we will not forget.
We're moving in the right direction. We need to do more for the needy
and for the poor.
Mr. ISSA. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
Ms. NORTON. Mr. Speaker, years ago, nonprofits, mostly churches, fed
people at Christmas and Thanksgiving. These nonprofits have become
life-saving, year-round operations. What has occurred ironically over
the past couple of years is a development that none of us anticipated,
a shortage of food in
[[Page H15488]]
these food banks of whatever description, and they come in part because
of the efficiency of the food industry itself.
The food industry itself has become increasingly, like many other
industries in our country, increasingly efficient so that there is less
food to give away. We greet and welcome that efficiency, and we
understand the need for it, especially in the food industry where the
profit margins are so narrow. At the same time, our agricultural
industry has become increasingly efficient, and it is, of course, one
of the most efficient industries in the country.
The net effect of this is some food goes abroad. Very importantly is
that there is less food that is excess food to give away, so that you
have nonprofits throughout the country, some of them have been cited in
the remarks of my colleagues because they are well known as having
originated here, like the Capital Food Bank; Bread for the City; SOME,
So Others May Eat; and not to mention the churches which were the first
to step up and perform this service.
We just have got to find a way to get what we know is excess food,
that all of us understand, have seen, all of us know exists, to where
that food is most needed; and I believe that of the many things we
could do, the bill offered by Mrs. Emerson is certainly one way to
begin to draw attention to what contractors may do as an act of
goodwill, without incurring any burden on themselves. Indeed, it should
be a great burden at a time like this to spoil or throw away any food.
Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the
gentlewoman from the District of Columbia (Ms. Norton) that the House
suspend the rules and pass the bill, H.R. 4220, as amended.
The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the
rules were suspended and the bill, as amended, was passed.
A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.
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