New Farm Law Hinges on Antihunger Programs

[flashl]

Source: Washington Post

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The chances to enact a new U.S. farm law before an informal April 18 deadline hinge on providing "very solid" funding for anti-hunger programs, the Senate Agriculture Committee chairman said on Thursday.

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"Nutrition remains a big sticking point with the House," Harkin said, referring to public nutrition programs such as food stamps. "They are going to want that number very solid. I don't know if they're going to accept $9.5 billion or not."

Agriculture Committee leaders agreed tentatively on a $9.5 billion increase for nutrition over 10 years. Chairman Charles Rangel of the House Ways and Means Committee, who is working on farm bill funding, says nutrition deserves ample funding because food prices are rising faster than the inflation rate.

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Some 27.7 million Americans rely on food stamps, the major U.S. antihunger program. The average benefit is $1 per meal.

NY Times

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/washington/politics-usa-agriculture-farmbill.html

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The 'hunger' problem was solved in 2006. See: Some Americans Lack Food, but USDA Won't Call Them Hungry

The U.S. government has vowed that Americans will never be hungry again. But they may experience "very low food security."

Every year, the Agriculture Department issues a report that measures Americans' access to food, and it has consistently used the word "hunger" to describe those who can least afford to put food on the table. But not this year.

Mark Nord, the lead author of the report, said "hungry" is "not a scientifically accurate term for the specific phenomenon being measured in the food security survey." Nord, a USDA sociologist, said, "We don't have a measure of that condition."

And, gee, do not to worry about being in soup line, Congress is trying to increase nutrition spending over 10 years with a $1 benefit.

Compare that to 2 mos expenditure of $10 billion in Iraq and the fact that many of those legislators who are seeking 'solid numbers' on nutrition spending are also investors in Defense.