[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 26] [House] [Pages 35552-35556] [From the U.S. 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. [[Page 35553]] (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. 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 [[Page 35554]] 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; 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 [[Page 35555]] 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.'' 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 [[Page 35556]] 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. 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 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. MORAN of Kansas. Mr. Speaker, today the House of Representatives is considering an important piece of legislation. H.R. 4220, the Federal Food Donation Act of 2007 is a step in the right direction towards feeding the hungry in our nation. It is unacceptable that here in the richest nation in the world American children go to bed hungry while perfectly good food goes to waste. I am proud to be a sponsor of this bill--a bill that will not solve all hunger, but will solve some people's hunger. I want to thank Mrs. Emerson for introducing the Federal Food Donation Act. The bill will help the efforts of nonprofit organizations serving the hungry. Agencies and contractors are encouraged to donate safe and wholesome food to nonprofit organizations that provide assistance to food-insecure people, while avoiding another mandate or further layer of bureaucracy. In order to help protect donors, the bill provides that executive agencies and contractors making donations are protected from civil or criminal liability While donating unused food is a good step in combating hunger in America, the fight is not over. Mr. SOUDER. Mr. Speaker, I want to express my support for H.R. 4220-- The Federal Food Donation Act of 2007. During this holiday season, millions of Americans reach into their pockets and pantries to help those less fortunate in their communities. Many times these donations go to non-for-profits like the Community Harvest Food Bank in northeast Indiana or In-As-Much Ministries in Fort Wayne, Indiana. These organizations then hand-out the food to those in need. While the supply of donations is high this time of year, demand is even higher. This legislation will allow the Federal Government to help increase the supply of wholesome food to organizations by removing red tape and allowing excess food that would otherwise be wasted go to those who need it. In northeast Indiana demand has increased this year and the community has stepped up its efforts. Millers Poultry in Orland, Indiana has donated thousands of eggs and over 10,000 lbs of chicken to the Community Harvest Food Bank. The local Farmers and Hunters Feeding the Hungry group in northeast Indiana has also donated 15,000 lbs of venison. With help from processors like New Haven's Custom Meats and Lengacher Meats in Grabill, this venison is easily distributed to hungry families in the community. While 25,000 lbs of meat seems like a lot, local pantries in Fort Wayne are giving out 10,000 lbs of food per day. I would like to thank those who have helped fill local food banks and urge those who have not yet donated to contact their local food bank or charity and give all you can to help those going hungry this Christmas Season. Ms. NORTON. 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. ____________________