WASHINGTON, DC- U.S. Senator Bob Casey (D-PA) today wrote to President Bush demanding that he release emergency funding for local food banks and other essential food programs which are facing a critical shortage of supplies this winter.
“Many working families are just one emergency away from financial disaster. Escalating costs of home heating, gasoline, food, and health care threaten to leave these families hungry and in the cold. In light of these circumstances, I urge you to provide emergency assistance to help local food banks and other programs meet the rising need this holiday season,” Senator Casey wrote.
Senator Casey went on to write, “while optimally The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP) needs an infusion of $27 million, I strongly urge you to transfer as much funding as is feasible to shore up America’s emergency food supplies throughout the upcoming winter months.”
As a member of the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Committee, Senator Casey fought to increase funding for nutrition programs in the 2007 Farm Bill. President Bush is threatening to veto the bill.
Full text of the letter is included:
Dear Mr. President:
Hardworking Americans are bracing for a winter storm that has nothing to do with snow and ice. Many working families are just one emergency away from financial disaster. Escalating costs of home heating, gasoline, food, and health care threaten to leave these families hungry and in the cold. In light of these circumstances, I urge you to provide emergency assistance to help local food banks and other programs meet the rising need this holiday season.
This winter, home energy prices are projected to reach record levels, increasing by more than 15 percent over last year. At the same time, the U.S. Department of Energy is predicting higher demand for home heating because the upcoming winter is expected to be colder than the last. The states’ energy assistance directors estimate that with this combination of higher prices and higher usage, the average family will pay $2,157 for home heating oil this winter, $693 more than last winter.
Meanwhile, family hunger and food insecurity is on the rise. Last year alone, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) reported that 35.5 million Americans did not have enough money or resources to get food for at least some period during the year. This was an increase of 400,000 over 2005 and an increase of 2.3 million since 2000.
Families in states like Pennsylvania, particularly families with children, increasingly face difficulty meeting the needs to heat their homes and feed their loved ones. This kind of family crisis can have both immediate and longstanding effects. Research shows that babies and toddlers in families struggling to keep up with their home energy needs are more likely to be in poor health, have a higher risk of developmental problems, and have greater food insecurity.
Faced with the choice of eating or heating, many of these families are seeking help from food banks and emergency heating assistance programs. Yet America’s food banks are facing critical shortages. Rising demand coupled with sharp drops in federal supplies of excess farm commodities and declining donations have forced food banks to cut back on rations, distribute supplies usually reserved for disaster relief, and in some cases, close their doors because of the lack of federal assistance.
Similarly, rising food costs and limited funding are placing great strain on the Women Infants and Children Nutrition Program (WIC), threatening service to some of the 8.5 million low-income pregnant and postpartum women and young children who participate in the program. Under your proposed budget for the fiscal year 2008, more than 500,000 low-income women, infants, and children would lose access to food and nutrition services.
I was proud to join the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Committee in unanimously approving a 2007 Farm Bill that includes over $5 billion in additional funds for federal food assistance programs. Passage of this bill will provide extra funding for food banks, increase food assistance to working families with high child care costs, and increase food assistance for low-income seniors. While the full Senate continues to work on this important legislation, we must take steps to immediately address the hunger-relief needs of millions of Americans across this nation.
Compounding matters, states report that they have insufficient resources to meet expected demands for home energy assistance. That is why Congress rejected your funding proposal for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), which would have cut the number of households assisted by 1.1 million, from 5.6 million to 4.5 million. Instead, we passed a bill to maintain the LIHEAP block grant at its current level of $1.98 billion and increase emergency contingency funding by $250 million to $431.7 million to meet the expected higher demand in the upcoming winter. Unfortunately, your veto of this bill stopped that relief in its tracks.
America’s working men and women, seniors, and children desperately need your immediate help this holiday season. Specifically, I urge you to provide emergency assistance to help local food banks and other programs meet the rising need this winter season. While optimally The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP) needs an infusion of $27 million, I strongly urge you to transfer as much funding as is feasible to shore up America’s emergency food supplies throughout the upcoming winter months. I also urge you to approve an appropriation that includes no less than $5.96 billion to fully fund the WIC program for FY08 and to approve the Farm Bill nutrition funding, including funding for TEFAP and the Commodity Supplemental Food Program (CSFP), when approved by Congress. Finally, I urge that you use your authority to release the remaining $20 million in the contingency fund for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP).
As a nation, we must do all we can to bring light to families facing the darkness of hunger and cold during the holidays and throughout the winter. As we count our blessings in this season of hope, let us bring comfort to those who are vulnerable and need our help.
Thank you for your consideration of this important request.
Respectfully,
Robert P. Casey, Jr., U.S. Senator
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