Nutrition Programs Under Threat!

Please call your U.S. Senator by 5:00 pm Eastern time on Friday, January 25, at 1-800-826-3688. Ask him/her to sign the dear colleague letter on farm bill nutrition funding that Senators Robert Casey (D-PA) and Richard Durbin (D-IL) are currently circulating. The letter urges leaders of the House and Senate Agriculture Committees to make sure the farm bill conference report includes permanent funding for nutrition programs at the higher Senate-passed levels.  (Senators Casey, Durbin and Boxer have already signed on to the letter.  If you are represented by them, feel free to thank them for their support of nutrition programs.)  Click here to let us know you called.

[Note:  This toll-free number will connect you to the Capitol switchboard, where you will ask to be connected to your senator’s office in order to leave your message.]

Message:
Your statement of support for permanent funding on the farm bill can help make great strides against hunger and poverty. Please show your support for a nutrition title that adequately and permanently funds vital needs by signing onto the letter being circulated by Senators Casey and Durbin.

Key points:
-    Over 35 million Americans- including more that 12 million children- struggle to put food on the table.
-    The new investments made in the Food Stamp Program of the Senate bill are not secure and will be taken away in 5 years. This represents a false promise to millions of vulnerable Americans who will see their benefits expand in 2008, only to have the increase taken away five years later. Please ensure that nutrition title improvements do not sunset in 2012.
-    The farm bill should include permanent funding at the Senate-passed levels for the nutrition title.

The House passed its farm bill in July; the Senate did the same in December. Representatives of each chamber will shortly begin conferencing to reconcile the two different versions and prepare a conference report that sets out the terms of the final bill.

The House farm bill provides $4.3 billion in new investments in the nutrition title, as compared to $5.4 in the Senate bill. The House increase is fully paid for across the 10-year budget window, whereas the Senate money disappears after 5 years. Though the Senate bill includes greater increases than the House, all new investments in the Senate nutrition title sunset in 2012, at which point programs revert back to 2007 spending rules--meaning the House improvements are permanent while the Senate improvements are temporary.

This budget gimmick represents a false promise to millions of vulnerable Americans who would see their food stamp benefits expand in 2008 under the Senate bill, only to have the increase taken away five years later. More than 10 million food stamp recipients would see their benefits cut in 2013 and more than 300,000 low-income people would be cut off food stamps altogether, unless Congress acts to extend the policies.

Even though your senator may not be on the conference committee, Senate members still have an important voice to urge leaders on the conference committee as well as House and Senate leaders to support permanent funding for nutrition program improvements. 

Senators Robert Casey (D-PA) and Richard Durbin (D-IL) have written a letter that urges the chairmen and ranking members of both the House and Senate Agriculture Committees to make sure the final farm bill includes nutrition program increases at the higher levels approved by the Senate in its bill and that these increases be permanently funded, as provided for in the House bill. Senators Casey and Durbin are asking other senators to join them on this letter. Your Democratic senator’s signature is critical. Please call as soon as possible.

Download a bulletin insert of this action alert for your church: Download bulletin_insert_farm_billfinal.pdf