Domestic Food Assistance Legislative Issues in the 110th Congress

Publication Date: January 2007

Publisher: Library of Congress. Congressional Research Service

Author(s):

Research Area: Health

Type:

Abstract:

The nutrition title of the omnibus 2007 "farm bill" will be the focus of legislative proposals affecting domestic food assistance programs in the 1st Session of the 110th Congress. The program areas that are expected to be addressed (because various authorities, like authorizations for appropriations expire at the end of FY2007) include: the regular Food Stamp program, programs operating in lieu of food stamps in Puerto Rico and American Samoa and on Indian reservations, The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP), the Commodity Supplemental Food Program (CSFP), Community Food Projects, the Seniors Farmers' Market Nutrition Program (SFMNP), and projects and initiatives to make fresh fruit and vegetables available in schools. Other nutrition assistance -- child nutrition programs (like the School Lunch program), the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (the WIC program), the WIC Farmers' Market Nutrition program -- are on a different reauthorization/review schedule and probably will not be a significant part of the nutrition assistance debate in the 1st Session.

The most significant issues raised are likely to be those surrounding the Food Stamp program and fresh fruit and vegetable projects. Proposals to changes rules governing food stamp eligibility and benefit levels, what items may be purchased with food stamp benefits, and how the Food Stamp program is administered by states are probable, as are calls for program revisions and grant initiatives aimed at easing access to food stamp benefits. Given the popularity of and support shown for the existing, limited projects to increase the presence of fresh fruit and vegetables in schools (and efforts to increase federal support for "specialty crops" as part of the overall farm bill), recommendations for expansion and possible restructuring of these initiatives are very likely.

However, action on most of the food assistance proposals/issues taken up as part of the farm bill will depend heavily on budgetary considerations -- specifically, whether any new funding is available and whether spending cuts will be needed.