Capitol Hill Update
The Senate is in recess from Friday, April 29 until Monday, May 9. This may be a good time to contact senators in their state offices or attend local events such as town meetings.
2006 Budget Update
On April 28, the House and Senate narrowly passed a budget resolution for 2006. The House voted 214-211 and the Senate 52-47 to pass the $2.6 trillion compromise bill negotiated by representatives of both chambers. Overall, the budget will require $35 billion in cuts to domestic programs over five years. It also mandates $70 billion in tax cuts over five years, more than half of which will benefit people who earn more than $1 million a year.
The budget resolution calls for $3 billion in cuts to agriculture programs, which include farm subsidies, conservation, and food stamps. The Food Stamp Program appears particularly vulnerable because many members of Congress oppose cuts to farm subsidies. The President recommends cutting $500 million from food stamps by pushing 300,000 low-income women who recently moved from welfare to work out of the program. House leaders are recommending even greater cuts.
For international affairs, the budget recommends a funding level of $31.4 billion $2.2 billion less than the administration's request and lower even than the levels in either version passed separately by the House ($32.4 billion) and Senate ($33.3 billion).
Sen. Herbert Kohl (D-WI), ranking member of the Senate Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee warned that the administration's proposal to cut food stamp costs by pushing 300,000 people out of the program would also end their children's automatic eligibility for free school lunches. Kohl told Undersecretary of Agriculture for Food and Nutrition Services Eric Bost that he did not understand how the administration would meet its goals of reducing Americans food insecurity by making it harder for low-income Americans to get food stamps and free school lunches.
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Domestic Update
Make Hunger History
Bread for the World continues to build bipartisan support in both the Senate and the House for the Hunger Free Communities Act, the legislation for our 2005 Offering of Letters, Make Hunger History. Members of the House and Senate from both parties have expressed their interest in co-sponsoring the bill, and the final language is now being crafted.
The Hunger Free Communities Act of 2005 would establish the commitment of the administration and Congress to achieving two very attainable goals: cutting hunger in the United States in half by 2010 and eliminating it by 2015. A key provision would require the Secretary of Agriculture to prepare an annual report on the problem of hunger in the United States. The report would present Census Bureau data and other key information on food insecurity, but even more importantly, it would provide details on efforts by federal, state and local governments to reduce hunger and recommend follow-up measures for the coming year.
Strengthening our national nutrition programs is the fastest, most direct way to reduce hunger. The Hunger Free Communities Act would call on Congress to adequately fund the national nutrition programs and support the work of church and local groups to fight hunger in their communities.
Hunger has been on the rise in recent years. More than 36 million people in the United States struggle to put food on the table an increase of 5.2 million people in only four years and nearly 10 million people live in households where one or more people experience hunger. Passing the Hunger Free Communities Act would help reverse this trend and begin moving the country in the right direction.
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Domestic Member Action
Urge your senators and representatives to cosponsor the Hunger Free Communities Act of 2005 and to oppose budget cuts to the Food Stamp Program and other national nutrition programs.
Points to make:
Hunger is on the rise in the United States. The latest data show that more than 36 million people live in households that struggle to put food on the table. The Hunger Free Communities Act recommits the United States to the fight against hunger.
National nutrition programs are the fastest, most direct way to prevent hunger. Congress should protect nutrition programs from any funding cuts that reduce the number of eligible participants or decrease benefit levels.
Political will is the missing ingredient to ending U.S. hunger in the next decade a goal well within our capabilities.
U.S. House of Representatives Washington, DC 20515
U.S. SenateWashington, DC 20510
Capitol Switchboard: (202) 224-3121
Send an email to Congress
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International Update
Millennium Challenge Account
The first Millennium Challenge Account (MCA) compact was signed on Monday, April 18. The agreement between the United States and Madagascar allocates $110 million to Madagascar's rural sectors over four years. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice and President Marc Ravalomanana of Madagascar spoke at the signing ceremony.
Both the House International Relations Committee and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee held hearings on the MCA the week of April 25. Earlier in April, Millennium Challenge Corporation CEO Paul Applegarth testified on the administration's budget request for the MCA at a hearing of the House Appropriations Committee's Subcommittee on Foreign Operations. The three hearings were generally well attended and members of Congress asked many knowledgeable questions, reflecting their commitment to their oversight responsibilities for the MCA. The prevailing view was one of support for the MCA and its goals coupled with emphasis on the need to live up to its potential.
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International Member Action
As the House and Senate Appropriations Committees begin their work, urge your representatives and senators to support the President's request of $22.8 billion for foreign operations.
Points to make:
The world has 852 million undernourished people, and this number continues to grow. With hunger, poverty and disease rampant, the United States needs to step up the effort to provide assistance that will help hungry and poor people improve their lives.
Fiscal discipline is important, but Congress shouldnt try to balance the budget at the expense of poverty-focused development assistance. These programs are a tiny portion of the $2.6 trillion federal budget. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office figures show that lower revenues, not higher spending, account for the large deficit.
U.S. House of Representatives Washington, DC 20515
U.S. SenateWashington, DC 20510
Capitol Switchboard: (202) 224-3121
Send an email to Congress
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