By Crystal D. Swann
April 21, 2008

The House of Representatives on April 16 passed H.R. 5813, a bill to extend farm programs until April 25, 2008, in order to give House and Senate conferees time to resolve remaining issues. At stake are billions of dollars in funding for farm programs, conservation and energy programs and nutrition and commodities programs. The core debate revolves around how to pay for the additional $12.5 billion in extra spending over the farm bill’s $560 billion baseline. The offsets are necessary to comply with the congressional pay-as-you go rules, which require extra spending be balanced with cuts or tax increases.

Both the House bill, passed in July, and Senate bill, passed in December, contain critical changes to expand and improve access to food stamps for the poor and working poor families. The House bill contains slightly more favorable provisions. With states and localities facing tremendous economic hardships and the price of food skyrocketing, many working families depend on assistance from programs like Food Stamps to make ends meet. The Congressional Budget Office predicts that about 28 million people will be using food stamps by October, the most since the program's inception more than 40 years ago.

In both the House and Senate versions, there are provisions that would raise the monthly Food Stamps benefits, allow recipients to save for retirement and education without affecting their eligibility, and eliminate the cap on child care expenses that families can deduct when their income is calculated. Proposals to increase funding for the Emergency Food Assistance Program, expand the Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program and prevent Senior Farmers Market benefits from counting as income for other services, such as Medicaid, all complement changes to the food stamp program. Congressional negotiators are working on a funding framework for the farm bill that includes $9.5 billion in new money over 10 years to support improvements to the nutrition title. That amount is still $2 billion shy of the $11 billion passed by the House in July but it represents a great start to improving programs that funding allocations have not kept up with the times.

A key finding in the 2007 USCM/Sodexho Hunger and Homelessness Survey Report found that “food stamp benefits are not keeping up with the increasing prices of food.” This was a major factor in people being hungry, which resulted in some 80 percent of the cities surveyed reporting increased requests for emergency food assistance in the last year. Averaging a mere $1 a person per meal, the minimum monthly benefit has been stuck at $10 for 30 years. Households with more than $3,000 in assets - such as cash or savings - might not qualify. That dollar amount has not changed since 1977. To understand the improbability of trying to live on $1 a meal, check out the past U.S.Mayor articles containing the first person accounts of Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino and other mayors who took the "food stamp challenge" and attempted to live on $1 per meal.

As Congress continues to debate the “how” and the “what,” many of the nations’ most vulnerable families and citizens are just asking “when?” The farm bill is set to expire April 25, but legislators expect to complete their busy schedule before the deadline.