TEFAP Alliance Blog

February 2004

In This Issue:
• Fiscal Year 2004 Appropriations Finalized
• USDA Set to Distribute Funds
• Bonus Foods Continue to Flow
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Fiscal Year 2004 Appropriations Finalized
Congress completed action on federal appropriations for fiscal year 2004 with final passage of an omnibus spending bill, H.R. 2673, on January 22. Once the President signed the legislation the following day, it became Public Law 108-199. The bill combined funding for seven usually separate appropriations bills – Agriculture; State-Commerce-Justice; District of Columbia; Foreign Operations; Labor-Health and Human Services-Education; Transportation-Treasury; and Veterans Administration-Housing and Urban Development.
For TEFAP, the legislation included $50 million in discretionary funds for storage and transportation along with $140 million for food purchases, with a provision allowing for the transfer of $10 million from the food purchase account to the transportation line item. Other funding figures for Agriculture included a $3.2 billion increase for food stamps, to $30.9 billion, an $837 million boost for child nutrition programs, and $4.639 billion for WIC, a $57 million decrease.
Finally, the bill contains an across-the-board cut of 0.59 percent for all domestic discretionary programs. This provision will reduce TEFAP storage and transportation funds going out to states by approximately $295,000.

USDA Set to Distribute Funds
With funding through September now finalized, the Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is preparing final allocations to states for operating TEFAP. The $50 million appropriated to administer the program – less the across-the-board reduction – which has been doled out on a monthly basis under continuing resolutions, is now ready for release for the remainder of the year. FNS is using a new formula, with updated poverty and census data, for its distribution of the funds.
According to FNS officials, USDA will request the $10 million to be transferred from food to administration. But the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) must approve the transfer, a process that could take months. States will receive temporary administrative allocations based on the $50 million and an additional amount that will be available if the transfer is approved by OMB. States can use up to the transfer amount if they choose. Transfer funds would not be affected by the across-the-board cut.

Bonus Foods Continue to Flow
In addition to foods regularly purchased for TEFAP with the $140 million in appropriated funds, USDA often contributes bonus items that it purchases for price support or surplus removal purposes. One of the latest buys is orange juice. USDA announced on January 15 that it would buy $50 million worth of juice from an industry whose sales have been negatively affected by the low-carb diet craze. With beef sales plummeting from the “mad cow” scare, future meat surpluses may be channeled into TEFAP.
FNS staff predicts “a pretty good year” for more surplus purchases, noting that some $80 million in foods actually purchased during fiscal year 2003 will be delivered 2004. FNS also notes it has “initiated some substantial buys” already this fiscal year, including pears, dried fruit, and tree nuts.

WASHINGTON UPDATE is published monthly for the TEFAP Alliance by Weinberg & Vauthier Consulting, 419 West Broad Street, Suite 204, Falls Church, VA 22046; telephone: 703-532-5700; fax: 703-532-5780; email: zyweinberg@earthlink.net

Washington Update
Monday, February 2, 2004

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