WASHINGTON, D.C.—U.S. Senators Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Bob Casey (D-PA), and Sherrod Brown (D-OH) today wrote to the Chairman and Ranking Member of the Senate Appropriations Committee asking that they include $100 million in the supplemental appropriations bill for emergency funding for The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP). The program provides assistance to local food banks, which are currently experiencing severe food aid shortages and seeing higher demand from families strained under our ailing economy.
Senator Boxer said, “Families across our country are really struggling right now—with food prices rising and gas at almost $4 a gallon, people are looking to our food banks for help. Unfortunately, many of the shelves in our nation’s food banks are bare, and too many hungry families are being turned away because of insufficient supplies. The very purpose of a supplemental appropriations bill is to provide assistance in times of emergency—I hope the Committee will take this opportunity to provide our food banks with additional resources during this time of hardship.”
Senator Casey said, “We are facing a hunger crisis with rising food prices and increasing numbers of Americans finding themselves desperately in need of help to put food on the table for themselves and their families. Food banks are in need of additional funding so that families have some place to turn for help. I urge the Committee to listen to the plights of poor- and working-class families and give the food banks the resources the need to help feed these families.”
“It is time for Congress to reevaluate its priorities,” Senator Brown said. “The wealthiest nation in the world cannot allow its people to go hungry. Working Americans who cannot afford to adequately feed their families, elderly individuals who worked hard all their lives but cannot survive on social security – they deserve to be a priority.”
The Senators letter to the Appropriations Committee follows:
Dear Chairman Byrd and Ranking Member Cochran:
As the Senate Appropriations Committee begins negotiations on a supplemental appropriations bill, we write to request that you include $100 million in this bill for emergency funding for The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP) to help provide immediate assistance to local food banks that are currently experiencing severe food aid shortages.
In times of economic hardship, it can become difficult for middle and low-income Americans to afford the costs of food for themselves and their families. According to the Department of Labor, 80,000 Americans lost their jobs in March, bringing the total number of jobs lost in 2008 to 232,000. During this period of high unemployment and great economic uncertainty, we know that more and more families will turn to their local non-profit food banks to help them through the hard times.
Unfortunately, those families that will require assistance from their local food bank may find insufficient resources to deal with their food aid needs.
Nationwide, food banks are struggling through a dramatic decline in food aid from surplus commodity purchases by the federal government. From 2002 to 2007, the amount of surplus food purchased by the government for domestic food aid decreased by 70 percent, causing food banks to reduce the amount of food available to the millions of Americans (including 9 million children and 3 million seniors) who depend on the availability food supplies from their local food banks.
We know that as the effects of the economic downturn spread throughout the nation in the coming months that more and more families will turn to their local food banks for assistance, placing an even greater strain on already limited emergency food aid supplies.
TEFAP directs food aid to low-income Americans, including senior citizens, by providing them with emergency food and nutrition assistance at no cost. A $100 million emergency allocation for this program will not only provide relief to America’s food banks and food aid for millions of Americans in need, it will also serve as another stimulus for the nation’s economy by freeing up household resources for purchases in other sectors of the economy
We understand that the committee has many difficult choices to make when considering what domestic spending priorities to include in the emergency supplemental, but we feel that it is necessary to include emergency food aid funding during this time of great need for so many of our nation’s families.
Thank you for your consideration of this request.
Sincerely,
Senator Barbara Boxer
Senator Robert P. Casey Jr.
Senator Sherrod Brown
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Senator Boxer said, “Families across our country are really struggling right now—with food prices rising and gas at almost $4 a gallon, people are looking to our food banks for help. Unfortunately, many of the shelves in our nation’s food banks are bare, and too many hungry families are being turned away because of insufficient supplies. The very purpose of a supplemental appropriations bill is to provide assistance in times of emergency—I hope the Committee will take this opportunity to provide our food banks with additional resources during this time of hardship.”
Senator Casey said, “We are facing a hunger crisis with rising food prices and increasing numbers of Americans finding themselves desperately in need of help to put food on the table for themselves and their families. Food banks are in need of additional funding so that families have some place to turn for help. I urge the Committee to listen to the plights of poor- and working-class families and give the food banks the resources the need to help feed these families.”
“It is time for Congress to reevaluate its priorities,” Senator Brown said. “The wealthiest nation in the world cannot allow its people to go hungry. Working Americans who cannot afford to adequately feed their families, elderly individuals who worked hard all their lives but cannot survive on social security – they deserve to be a priority.”
The Senators letter to the Appropriations Committee follows:
Dear Chairman Byrd and Ranking Member Cochran:
As the Senate Appropriations Committee begins negotiations on a supplemental appropriations bill, we write to request that you include $100 million in this bill for emergency funding for The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP) to help provide immediate assistance to local food banks that are currently experiencing severe food aid shortages.
In times of economic hardship, it can become difficult for middle and low-income Americans to afford the costs of food for themselves and their families. According to the Department of Labor, 80,000 Americans lost their jobs in March, bringing the total number of jobs lost in 2008 to 232,000. During this period of high unemployment and great economic uncertainty, we know that more and more families will turn to their local non-profit food banks to help them through the hard times.
Unfortunately, those families that will require assistance from their local food bank may find insufficient resources to deal with their food aid needs.
Nationwide, food banks are struggling through a dramatic decline in food aid from surplus commodity purchases by the federal government. From 2002 to 2007, the amount of surplus food purchased by the government for domestic food aid decreased by 70 percent, causing food banks to reduce the amount of food available to the millions of Americans (including 9 million children and 3 million seniors) who depend on the availability food supplies from their local food banks.
We know that as the effects of the economic downturn spread throughout the nation in the coming months that more and more families will turn to their local food banks for assistance, placing an even greater strain on already limited emergency food aid supplies.
TEFAP directs food aid to low-income Americans, including senior citizens, by providing them with emergency food and nutrition assistance at no cost. A $100 million emergency allocation for this program will not only provide relief to America’s food banks and food aid for millions of Americans in need, it will also serve as another stimulus for the nation’s economy by freeing up household resources for purchases in other sectors of the economy
We understand that the committee has many difficult choices to make when considering what domestic spending priorities to include in the emergency supplemental, but we feel that it is necessary to include emergency food aid funding during this time of great need for so many of our nation’s families.
Thank you for your consideration of this request.
Sincerely,
Senator Barbara Boxer
Senator Robert P. Casey Jr.
Senator Sherrod Brown
###
