TEFAP Alliance Blog

November 2004

In This Issue:
• Fiscal Year 2005 Appropriations Finished – Almost
• Food Insecurity and Hunger Still on the Rise
• Dry Milk Donations to Continue Through December 31
• Reports from the Field
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Fiscal Year 2005 Appropriations Finished – Almost
Congress returned to town last week for a post-election “lame duck” session that hashed out decisions on fiscal year 2005 spending in a $388 billion omnibus appropriations package (H.R. 4818). The legislation, which covers nine, normally separate appropriations bills for the fiscal year that started October 1, 2004, was approved by the House on November 20 by a 344-51 margin and later in the day by the Senate on a 65-30 vote.
However, a dispute over an income tax provision has delayed finalization of H.R. 4818. The House must return on December 6 to confirm elimination of a tax section that was deleted by the Senate. In the meantime, Congress passed another short-term continuing resolution (H.J.R. 115) to keep the government functioning through December 8.
Most food programs will be officially renewed at fiscal year 2004 levels or higher. But to help Congress and the Administration meet budget targets, H.R. 4818 contains a 0.83 percent across-the-board cut on discretionary programs that will be implemented once the bill takes effect. The Community Food and Nutrition Program (CFNP) and several other nutrition assistance efforts will be affected by the reduction. Food stamps and most child nutrition programs are entitlements and will be spared from any cuts in this round of funding.
The Food Stamp Program was approved at $35.155 billion, and includes a $3 billion funding reserve. Child nutrition programs – including school lunch, school breakfast, child and adult care food, and summer food services – were collectively funded at $11.872 billion.
WIC was allocated $5.277 billion, but since it is a discretionary program, about $44 million will be cut from that amount. It was unclear whether WIC’s $125 million contingency fund would also be subject to the across-the-board reduction; though the WIC Farmers’ Market Nutrition Program, funded at $20 million, will be reduced. The mandatory $15 million allocated to the Senior Farmers’ Market Nutrition Program will remain whole.
The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP), a primary provider of government commodities to the nation’s emergency food system, will remain funded at $140 million for food purchases and $50 million for transportation and storage. TEFAP transportation funds are considered discretionary, so $415,000 will be shaved from that account; though again in fiscal 2005, USDA will have authority to transfer $10 million from food to transportation.
Funding for both congregate and home-delivered meals in the elderly nutrition program will see their $10 million increase over fiscal 2004 trimmed by the across-the-board percentage. The CFNP was approved at last year’s level of $7,238,000, though it will be reduced to approximately $7,178,000 after the required cut.

Food Insecurity and Hunger Still on the Rise
In 2003, for the fourth straight year, the number of Americans experiencing hunger and food insecurity grew. A total of 36.3 million people lived in food insecure households last year, or 11.2 percent of the U.S. population, according to statistics released on November 19 by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). The number of food insecure people has grown by 5.3 million since 1999.
Food insecurity means that, “At some time during the year, these households were uncertain of having, or unable to acquire, enough food for all their members because they had insufficient money or other resources,” explained USDA.
Some of the food insecure – 9.6 million people – were found to be experiencing chronic hunger. The 3.5 percent of households that were “food insecure with hunger,” noted USDA researchers, “experienced the condition in 8 or 9 months, but only a few days in each month.”
Food insecure households lack the resources, whether from wages or government benefits, to purchase a nutritionally adequate diet. The typical food insecure household spent four percent less per week than USDA’s thrifty food plan, while the average food secure household spent 29 percent more. The USDA survey also found that among all food insecure households:
• 56 percent received help from one of the three largest federal nutrition assistance programs – food stamps, school lunch, or WIC;
• Nearly 20 percent obtained emergency food from a food pantry, church, or food bank; and
• Two percent got meals from a community kitchen.
As part of the food insecurity study, USDA reported that, in 2003, TEFAP supplied 519 million pounds of commodities to emergency food providers, including an estimated half of all food pantries and community kitchens.
For more information, see: http://www.ers.usda.gov/publications/fanrr42/.

Dry Milk Donations to Continue Through December 31
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced on November 8, 2004 that it would extend its program to donate non-fat dry milk to non-profit and faith-based organizations through the end of calendar year 2004. The National Nonprofit Humanitarian Initiative (NNHI) was slated to end on September 30.
Under the NNHI, USDA has provided excess inventory of dry milk for use in domestic meal services or for distribution to needy individuals via 73 organizations, including California Emergency Foodlink. The 90-day extension of the program will allow an additional 10 million pounds of both instantized and non-instantized dry milk to be distributed. Since the NNHI was started in September 2003, it has distributed 136.8 million pounds of non-fat dry milk.
For additional information and a listing of the organizations receiving the milk, go to: http://www.usda.gov/wps/portal/usdahome and look under “Latest Releases” in the Newsroom for the November 8 statement.

Reports from the Field
Arizona: Following hurricanes in Florida and floods in California, Mexican produce is in greater demand this season, which means leaner times for Arizona food banks, who normally rely on a steady flow of donated produce from across the border. “Rack after rack after rack is just sitting empty,” Bob Evans of United Food Bank in Mesa told The Arizona Republic in late October. “By no means is there a cross section of good healthy food to eat.”
An estimated 775,000 low-income Arizonans turn to food banks annually. “I see families with their kids, grandparents, single mothers, single fathers,” commented Steve Garza of the Glendale Food Bank. “Hard times hit everybody. It doesn’t have a race, a color, a religious preference.”
Idaho: “The number of people looking for help, especially those needing food, is up again,” reported The Idaho Statesman in its November 13, 2004 edition. In response, the Idaho Food Bank will be distributing more than 4.5 million pounds of food this year, a 12 percent increase statewide over 2003.
But that may not be enough. “The majority of folks that are getting food assistance are people who are playing by the rules,” claimed Food bank director Roger Simon. “They’re holding down one or two jobs, maybe more, but they can’t make ends meet. It’s not the stereotype of lazy people. There’s a big gap between what it costs to live and what people are bringing home.”
Iowa: “Food pantries across Iowa report an unnerving jump in the number of people seeking assistance,” reported the Des Moines Register on November 10, “with not only food but also rent, clothing, and utility bills. The rush started in late summer, and it’s getting worse.”
“Our data show there’s hungry kids out there,” noted Des Moines nutrition consultant Susan Roberts. “People think that doesn’t occur in Iowa. Well, it does occur in Iowa. People just don’t go around talking about it.”
Area food pantries have had their supplies stretched to the limit and may soon have to cut back from supplying a five-day box of food to a three-day one. “People can’t make it,” said Sister Sandra Rodemyer, director of the food pantry for the Des Moines Area Religious Council. “I just wish we didn’t have so many people needing us.”
Massachusetts: Project Bread, a statewide anti-hunger group, issued its “Status Report on Hunger in Massachusetts – 2004” earlier this month, and reported that “more people than ever are relying on emergency food pantries and soup kitchens. The demand for emergency food has increased by 38 percent in the last four years.” To read more, see: http://www.projectbread.org/media/Status04.pdf.

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
Friday, November 26, 2004

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