In May 2008, Congress overrode President Bush’s veto to make the 2008 Farm Bill (H.R. 2419) law. Included in the law is a $10.36 billion Nutrition title, which includes food stamps, emergency food assistance, help for food banks and more.

• Restore economic growth and create jobs with better wages for lower-income workers.
• Raise the incomes of the lowest-income families.
• Strengthen the SNAP/Food Stamp Program.
• Strengthen the Child Nutrition Programs.
• Engage the entire federal government in ending childhood hunger.
• Work with states, localities and nonprofits to expand and improve participation in federal nutrition programs.
• Make sure all families have convenient access to reasonably priced, healthy food.

Overview 

Hunger disrupts the lives of hundreds of thousands of children in North Carolina every day. Hungry children cannot learn effectively and are likely to have chronic health problems. Low-income children are more likely to have diets high in fats and sugar and low in fruits and vegetables, which can lead to obesity and other health issues later in life. The current recession is causing even more children to go hungry.

Did you know? 1-in-7 children in North Carolina lives in a household that is forced to reduce food intake, alter normal eating patterns, or go hungry because they lack the money or resources to obtain adequate food.

Key Federal Food and Nutrition Assistance Programs

• Food Stamps program provides monthly benefits to eligible low-income families which can be used to purchase food. Nationally, households with children receive nearly 80 percent of all food stamp benefits. 404,000 children in North Carolina benefit from the program.
• The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP) provides USDA commodities to states, who distribute the food through local emergency food providers (food banks).
• Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) provides low-income pregnant women, new mothers, infants and children with nutritious foods, nutrition education and improved access to health care.
• National School Lunch and Breakfast programs provide per meal cash reimbursements to schools as an entitlement to provide nutritious meals to children. 567,000 children in North Carolina received free or reduced price lunches during the 2005-06 school year; nearly 286,000 received free or reduced price breakfasts.
• Summer Food Service program provides funds to organizations sponsoring summer programs to serve nutritious meals to low-income children when school is out.

Key Changes in Nutrition title of the 2008 Farm Bill

• Ends years of erosion in the purchasing power of food stamps by raising and indexing for inflation the program’s standard deduction and minimum benefit, accounting for annual inflation for the first time since the program’s creation over 40 years ago;
• Eliminates the cap on the dependent care deduction;
• Improves the program’s resource limits and excludes tax-preferred retirement accounts and education accounts from those limits;
• Renames and updates the program, which will be called the “Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program” (SNAP);
• Increases funding for various programs including:
• $1.26 billion for the Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP);
• $1.02 billion for the USDA Snack Program, which helps schools provide healthy snacks to students during after-school activities and expands the program to all 50 states;
• $50 million for 2008 to immediately address shortages at food pantries;
• $5 million per year for Community Food Projects for grants to innovative community projects;
• $3 million to help bring fresh foods into urban food deserts through the Healthy Urban Food Enterprise Development Center.
• Creates pilot programs to:
• Evaluate strategies to address obesity among low-income communities;
• Encourage the purchase of more fresh fruits and vegetables in food stamp households.
  

What You Can Do

Let your federal Senators and Representative know that, with the economic downturn, more and more of North Carolina's families need food and nutrition assistance programs to be a priority this session.

 
For More Information

Food Research and Action Center (FRAC) works to improve public policies and public-private partnerships to eradicate hunger and undernutrition in the United States.

Implementing New Changes to the Food Stamp Program: A Provision by Provision Analysis of the 2008 Farm Bill (Center on Budget and Policy Priorities)