TEFAP Alliance Blog

September 2004

In This Issue:
• Appropriations Moving Forward though Omnibus Still Likely
• Storage and Distribution Funds Being Released
• “Good Sam” Provision Left Behind Again
• Low-fat Cheese Means Fewer Calories for CSFP
• More Bonus Foods for TEFAP Confirmed
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Appropriations Moving Forward though Omnibus Still Likely
Congress continues to take action on appropriations this month, but it appears doubtful that most spending bills for next year will be completed by the October 1 start of fiscal year 2005. To date, Congress has passed only one of the 13 regular annual appropriations bills – for the Defense Department. Instead, congressional staff have indicated that they expect government programs to be kept alive through continuing resolutions until November, when an omnibus appropriations bill may be considered in a post-election, lame-duck session.
Appropriations for the Agriculture Department, which contains spending for most nutrition assistance programs, including food stamps, school meals, WIC, child care feeding, and commodity programs, passed the House back in July (H.R. 4766). Separate legislation (S. 2803) was endorsed by the Senate Appropriations Committee on September 14. The Senate bill would provide $33.6 billion for food stamps, $11.4 billion for child nutrition programs, $5.175 billion for WIC, level funding for TEFAP, and $20 million for the WIC Farmers’ Market Nutrition Program. Agriculture appropriations may go to a House-Senate conference committee in October, but final passage of nutrition spending will likely be part of an omnibus funding bill later in the year.

Storage and Distribution Funds Being Released
A late September budget adjustment uncovered over $700,000 in unspent TEFAP storage and distribution funds from fiscal year 2003 that are now being released to states to keep emergency feeding operations afloat. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) offered the funds to states and territories last week, and all but 11 jurisdictions accepted the funds, which must be obligated by the end of this month.
In the absence of a regular appropriation for fiscal year 2005, USDA will continue distributing TEFAP administrative funds on a piecemeal basis, according to the length of any continuing resolution Congress passes. The funding formula for fiscal 2005 will be adjusted, however, to reflect changes in unemployment rates among the states. If received in a timely fashion, the updated formula will be applied to any funds distributed under continuing resolutions, according to USDA officials.

“Good Sam” Provision Left Behind Again
Congress has just enacted another broad-based tax cut bill, but the Good Samaritan Hunger Relief Tax Incentive Act, which was rumored earlier this month to be part of the package, ultimately was not included in the bill. The Working Families Tax Relief Act of 2004 (H.R. 1308) extended tax cuts for families with children and offered incentives for welfare-to-work programs, among other provisions. Efforts to encourage charitable food donations through the tax code, however, remain stymied.

Low-fat Cheese Means Fewer Calories for CSFP
The latest anti-obesity initiative to make news is low-fat cheese for a federal commodity distribution program. In what USDA staff have termed a “dramatic and important” move, low-income women, children, and seniors who participate in the Commodity Supplemental Food Program (CSFP) will now receive low-fat cheese instead of regular cheese.
The change is significant. For the 23,000 women, children and seniors in the CSFP operated by the Community Action Partnership (CAP) of Orange County, California alone, the new food source will translate into 327 million fewer calories being served annually. The agency’s food bank and other CSFP programs around the nation spent over a year encouraging USDA to provide a low-fat alternative for the CSFP food package.
The new cheese contains half as many calories and grams of fat, and nearly twice as much protein, said CAP food bank director Mark Lowry. “The food bank is involved not only in providing food to poor people,” noted Lowry, “but in shaping public policy and providing low-income people with the most nutritious and healthy food we can.”

More Bonus Foods for TEFAP Confirmed
Bonus offerings of raisins and walnuts were made available to TEFAP in late August, further increasing the amount of surplus food in the TEFAP pipeline. A total of 6.6 million pounds of walnuts will be purchased and donated to child nutrition and other commodity programs.

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, September 27, 2004

mvauthier :: Sep.27.2004 :: Washington Update :: No Comments »:: Print This Post

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