This news is just in from Feeding America (formerly America's Second Harvest):On October 7 and 8, the House and Senate passed the Agriculture Appropriations Bill for Fiscal Year 2010, which will now go to President Obama’s desk to be signed into law. This bill bolsters our country’s food nutrition programs, making substantial improvements in the areas of nutrition and food assistance.
In addition, the final legislation extends the Child Nutrition Reauthorization through September 30, 2010, giving the House Committee on Education and Labor and the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry an additional year to develop and finalize the updated legislation authorizing child nutrition programs.
$82.782 billion were appropriated for domestic nutrition assistance, including:
* TEFAP Commodity Funding: $248 million in mandatory commodity funding that will provide emergency food and nutrition assistance to low-income needy persons and the elderly.
* Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program or SNAP (formerly Food Stamps): $58.2 billion that will provide food assistance for millions of low-income people, including funding to increase elderly participation.
* Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC): Over $7 billion in mandatory funding that will give needy women, infants, and children benefits to promote a healthy pregnancy for mothers and a healthy start for their children.
* Commodity Supplemental Food Program: $171.4 million that will provide nutritious food to more than half a million low-income women, infants, children, and elderly citizens struggling with rising food costs.
* Food Bank Infrastructure Grants: $6 million that has been provided for the first time to fund the food bank infrastructure grants that were authorized in the 2008 Farm Bill. The Department of Agriculture’s Food and Nutrition Service will be developing guidelines regarding application for this grant funding.
* Additionally, the bill includes provisions for a number of child nutrition-specific projects, including: After-School At-Risk Suppers; Summer Food demonstration projects; feeding children when schools are closed due to a pandemic; exempting combat pay from Child Nutrition Program eligibility; and grants to improve direct certification for school meals.
So, WCFB fans, if you wrote to your congress folks to urge them to pass this legislation, THANK YOU, pat yourselves on the back, and then write nice little thank-you notes to Jim McDermott, Patty Murray, and Maria Cantwell who all voted Yea.
