State & Federal
Visualizing Health and the Farm Bill
The new year will bring a new line-up of webinar offerings on topics essential to the future of food and farming. On January 12, 2012, the first webinar of the year – Visualizing Health and the Farm Bill – will provide an overview of the Farm Bill and its intersections with public health, including a view towards the kinds of farming and eating the bill currently supports. Roni Neff, PhD of the Center for a Livable Future at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health will share an innovative new web-based tool that allows visual analysis of Farm Bill spending to reveal what portion of the overall Farm Bill goes to fruits and vegetables, commodity crops, industrial food animal production, etc. Beth Hoffman of Food + Tech Connect will share highlights from the Farm Bill Hackathon, an event held in early December that brought together policy experts, designers and developers to create more visually interesting representations of the Farm Bill.
Read more and register for the webinar.
Washington Update on Super Committee and Farm Bill Negotiations
(Courtesy of the Food Research and Action Center www.frac.org)
Amid the swirl of stories coming out of Washington, DC, we wanted to give you an update of what we know regarding deficit reduction efforts and the Farm Bill.
What we know:
- Super Committee: As you have heard, a deal on achieving $1.2 trillion/10 years in deficit reductions through the Super Committee process has failed. According to the terms of the Deficit Control Act, upon failure to put forth an agreement by Nov. 23 and to vote on a bill by Dec. 23, automatic sequestration kicks in by cutting $1.2 trillion over 10 years, beginning in January 2013. These automatic cuts would be shared equally between defense and non-defense programs. Programs like SNAP, child nutrition, TEFAP commodities, Commodity Supplemental Food Program would be protected from these cuts. Click here for a full list of protected programs.
- House & Senate Agriculture Committees (Farm Bill proposal): While the Super Committee was deliberating, the principals of the House and Senate Agriculture Committees were meeting to develop recommendations for a Farm Bill which reportedly would secure $23 billion/10 years in program cuts, using the Super Committee bill as the vehicle for this Farm Bill. Reports indicated that $4 billion/10 years in SNAP cuts were under serious consideration, with those cuts coming from limitations on SNAP “Heat and Eat.” Click here for more information on SNAP “Heat and Eat” (pdf). It was anticipated that the Agriculture Committee’s recommendations would be released publicly late last week (or over the weekend). While earlier drafts have surfaced, as of today, the Committees have not publicly issued their “official” recommendations. It is also unclear whether the Farm Bill the Committee was preparing for the Super Committee will be carried over into a free-standing Farm Bill reauthorization.
What We Don’t Know:
- What is next. It is unclear what is next for the Super Committee process or other actions by Congress that may be planned for the remainder of this session.
What You Can Do:
- Keep up the drumbeat in your conversations with elected officials and the media. Especially with the Thanksgiving holiday focus, there are many opportunities to get our message across — “No cuts to SNAP, nutrition programs and safety net programs for the poor and vulnerable.”
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Related Bills in Congress
For more information visit: Govtrack.us
H.R. 3225: Community Agriculture Development and Jobs Act
To promote and enhance community agricultural production and technology in nontraditional communities through the establishment of a new office in the Department of Agriculture to ensure that Department authorities are coordinated more effectively to encourage local agricultural production and increase the availability of fresh food in nontraditional communities, particularly underserved communities experiencing hunger, poor nutrition, obesity, and food insecurity, and for other purposes.
Status: This bill is in the first step in the legislative process. Explanation: Introduced bills and resolutions first go to committees that deliberate, investigate, and revise them before they go to general debate. The majority of bills and resolutions never make it out of committee.
H.R. 1722: Eat Local Foods Act
To amend the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act to create a local food credit program.
Status: This bill is in the first step in the legislative process. Explanation: Introduced bills and resolutions first go to committees that deliberate, investigate, and revise them before they go to general debate. The majority of bills and resolutions never make it out of committee.
H.R. 207: School Food Recovery Act
To clarify that schools and local educational agencies participating in the school lunch program under the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act are authorized to donate excess food to local food banks or charitable organizations.
Status: This bill is in the first step in the legislative process. Explanation: Introduced bills and resolutions first go to committees that deliberate, investigate, and revise them before they go to general debate. The majority of bills and resolutions never make it out of committee
