[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 195 (Wednesday, December 19, 2007)]
[Senate]
[Pages S15975-S15977]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      AMERICAN FAMILIES IN CRISIS

  Mr. CASEY. Mr. President, I am going to try to be about 5 minutes. I 
want to highlight a couple of issues, not only because it is this 
season but I think especially because it is this season, the holiday 
season.
  When we think about families coming together, we think about hope, 
and we think about caring for people. We think about exchanging gifts. 
It is a time of happiness. But for some families it is not so. It is a 
very difficult time for a lot of families--not only during the holiday 
season but the winter season.
  I was struck, unfortunately, in a very negative way the other day. I 
think it was yesterday. I picked up the Washington Post and read a 
story about President Bush's speech about the economy. We can go 
through that and debate what he said, but one of the first sentences in 
that article quoted him as follows--when he was talking about the 
economy:


[[Page S15976]]


       There's definitely some storm clouds and concerns.

  ``There's definitely some storm clouds and concerns.'' That is a 
quotation from that article from the President of the United States. I 
have to say, I have never seen a crisis in the lives of a lot of 
families so understated, and I think irresponsibly so. I hate to say 
that, but there is no other way to say that in any other way.
  It is not, Mr. President, just some ``concerns'' and some ``storm 
clouds.'' We are way beyond storm clouds for a lot of Americans. There 
are so many Americans who face the crisis of not having enough to eat 
this season. This Government can do something about it. We know that. 
We all know that if we are honest with ourselves. There are families 
who do not have enough resources or enough power in their own lives to 
be able to access the resources to heat their homes, so they are cold 
at this time.
  There are a lot of other families who are facing other crises--health 
care costs and others, the subprime crisis. We could go down the list: 
the price of fuel, gasoline, and home heating oil. We could go down the 
list. But it is a crisis, and for a lot of hard-working Americans, they 
are bracing for a winter storm that has nothing to do with snow and 
ice. Many of these same working families are one emergency away from 
financial disaster.
  In light of that challenge they face, I sent a letter to the 
President just over a week ago--actually before he made the statement 
about the storm clouds and some ``concerns.'' It is lot worse than 
that, I would respectfully submit to the President. I am not going to 
go through the letter. I ask unanimous consent that my letter to the 
President dated December 10, 2007, be printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

                                                  U.S. Senate,

                                Washington, DC, December 10, 2007.
     The President,
     The White House,
     Washington, DC.
       Dear Mr. President: Hardworking Americans are bracing for a 
     winter storm that has nothing to do with snow and ice. Many 
     working families are just one emergency away from financial 
     disaster. Escalating costs of home heating, gasoline, food, 
     and health care threaten to leave these families hungry and 
     in the cold. In light of these circumstances, I urge you to 
     provide emergency assistance to help local food banks and 
     other programs meet the rising need this holiday season.
       This winter, home energy prices are projected to reach 
     record levels, increasing by more than 15 percent over last 
     year. At the same time, the U.S. Department of Energy is 
     predicting higher demand for home heating because the 
     upcoming winter is expected to be colder than the last. The 
     states' energy assistance directors estimate that with this 
     combination of higher prices and higher usage, the average 
     family will pay $2,157 for home heating oil this winter, $693 
     more than last winter.
       Meanwhile, family hunger and food insecurity is on the 
     rise. Last year alone, the United States Department of 
     Agriculture (USDA) reported that 35.5 million Americans did 
     not have enough money or resources to get food for at least 
     some period during the year. This was an increase of 400,000 
     over 2005 and an increase of 2.3 million since 2000.
       Families in states like Pennsylvania, particularly families 
     with children, increasingly face difficulty meeting the needs 
     to heat their homes and feed their loved ones. This kind of 
     family crisis can have both immediate and longstanding 
     effects. Research shows that babies and toddlers in families 
     struggling to keep up with their home energy needs are more 
     likely to be in poor health, have a higher risk of 
     developmental problems, and have greater food insecurity.
       Faced with the choice of eating or heating, many of these 
     families are seeking help from food banks and emergency 
     heating assistance programs. Yet America's food banks are 
     facing critical shortages. Rising demand coupled with sharp 
     drops in federal supplies of excess farm commodities and 
     declining donations have forced food banks to cut back on 
     rations, distribute supplies usually reserved for disaster 
     relief, and in some cases, close their doors because of the 
     lack of federal assistance.
       Similarly, rising food costs and limited funding are 
     placing great strain on the Women Infants and Children 
     Nutrition Program (WIC), threatening service to some of the 
     8.5 million low-income pregnant and postpartum women and 
     young children who participate in the program.
       Under your proposed budget for the fiscal year 2008, more 
     than 500,000 low-income women, infants, and children would 
     lose access to food and nutrition services.
       I was proud to join the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition, and 
     Forestry Committee in unanimously approving a 2007 Farm Bill 
     that includes over $5 billion in additional funds for federal 
     food assistance programs. Passage of this bill will provide 
     extra funding for food banks, increase food assistance to 
     working families with high child care costs, and increase 
     food assistance for low-income seniors. While the full Senate 
     continues to work on this important legislation, we must take 
     steps to immediately address the hunger-relief needs of 
     millions of Americans across this nation.
       Compounding matters, states report that they have 
     insufficient resources to meet expected demands for home 
     energy assistance. That is why Congress rejected your funding 
     proposal for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program 
     (LIHEAP), which would have cut the number of households 
     assisted by 1.1 million, from 5.6 million to 4.5 million. 
     Instead, we passed a bill to maintain the LIHEAP block grant 
     at its current level of $1.98 billion and increase emergency 
     contingency funding by $250 million to $431.7 million to meet 
     the expected higher demand in the upcoming winter. 
     Unfortunately, your veto of this bill stopped that relief in 
     its tracks.
       America's working men and women, seniors, and children 
     desperately need your immediate help this holiday season. 
     Specifically, I urge you to provide emergency assistance to 
     help local food banks and other programs meet the rising need 
     this winter season. While optimally The Emergency Food 
     Assistance Program (TEFAP) needs an infusion of $27 million, 
     I strongly urge you to transfer as much funding as is 
     feasible to shore up America's emergency food supplies 
     throughout the upcoming winter months. I also urge you to 
     approve an appropriation that includes no less than $5.96 
     billion to fully fund the WIC program for FY08 and to approve 
     the Farm Bill nutrition funding, including funding for TEFAP 
     and the Commodity Supplemental Food Program (CSFP), when 
     approved by Congress. Finally, I urge that you use your 
     authority to release the remaining $20 million in the 
     contingency fund for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance 
     Program (LIHEAP).
       As a nation, we must do all we can to bring light to 
     families facing the darkness of hunger and cold during the 
     holidays and throughout the winter. As we count our blessings 
     in this season of hope, let us bring comfort to those who are 
     vulnerable and need our help.
       Thank you for your consideration of this important request.
           Respectfully,
                                             Robert P. Casey, Jr.,
                                                     U.S. Senator.

  Mr. CASEY. I will not read the letter, but I outlined some of these 
challenges people have in their lives. I asked him to do a couple of 
things. These things are not difficult to do. These things, literally, 
require his signature on either legislation that has just been passed 
or using his discretionary power as the most powerful elected official 
in the world to release small sums of money in the scheme of our entire 
Federal budget.
  I will wrap up with this, four things I have asked him to do 
basically in this letter. First of all, No. 1, provide emergency 
assistance to help local food banks and other programs meet the rising 
need this winter season. There is story after story. I say to the 
Presiding Officer, you know it from your home State of Colorado. We 
know it all over the country. There is article after article about food 
banks stretched in a way they have not been. It seems as if the same 
story has been written across the country. Never before, in 20 years, 
some would assert, have we seen this. We have not seen this in years. 
They do not have enough resources to meet the demand of those who are 
hungry.
  So I would ask the President to use his power--his power to provide 
that emergency assistance to those who are hungry. He has the power to 
do that.
  Secondly, I ask the President to use his power to give full meaning 
to a great program, the Emergency Food Assistance Program, known here 
in Washington, like everything else, with an acronym, EFAP, the 
Emergency Food Assistance Program. It needs an infusion. This would be 
the optimal situation, if the President would do this for the American 
people. It needs an infusion, right now, of at least $27 million. I ask 
the President to get that done. And I think he could if he wanted to do 
this.
  I urge him also to approve the bill we just passed, that massive 
piece of legislation last night. A lot of good things are in that bill. 
I will mention one or two. One is the Women, Infants, and Children 
Program--a tremendous program that helps pregnant women and postpartum 
women, as well as young children, with nutrition and other assistance. 
Thank goodness the bill we passed has $6 billion for it. I am told that 
is full funding.
  I ask the President to sign that legislation for a lot of reasons--
hundreds of reasons--but if he has no other reason,

[[Page S15977]]

to look at that part of that bill, the Women, Infants, and Children's 
Program during this holiday season; to sign the farm bill because of a 
lot of reasons, but in this context because of the nutrition funding 
which is included in it that I mentioned, as well as other nutrition 
increases. There are billions of dollars more for nutrition in the farm 
bill. So I ask the President, No. 3, to sign the farm bill.
  And No. 4, and finally, to release the remaining $20 million in 
contingency funding for the so-called LIHEAP program--another acronym, 
the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program. A lot of people know 
about it and depend on it. Just $20 million; a tiny eyedrop worth of 
money in terms of a Federal budget into the trillions.
  I ask the President not only to read a letter and not only to respond 
to it, but, most importantly, to take action which is asked for in this 
letter and the pleas for help from families across America. U.S. 
Senators, Members of Congress, and others have asked this President to 
do his part in this holiday season because the President, just like the 
Congress, has power--power to help people, power to improve their 
lives, and power to do all he can to help them every time throughout 
the year but especially at this time of the year.
  I conclude with this: In this season of hope, let it be said of those 
who have power--real power--let it be said of those who have power that 
they helped those who are hungry, those who are cold, and those who 
will live through yet another season of despair. Let it be said of us, 
and let it be said of the President, that he fulfilled and met his 
obligation to help those Americans who need it, especially in this 
season.
  Mr. President, I thank you and yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Michigan.

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