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Legislative Action Center

  

House Unveils Economic Recovery Package with Strong Low-Income Provisions; Details Still Unfolding
  • House proposal includes investments in SNAP/Food Stamps, expansion of Afterschool Meals, WIC, and other targeted aid.
  • Important improvements to the Child Tax Credit, TANF, SSI, and other programs also included.
  • Call Members of Congress to urge them to support the economic recovery package with investments in nutrition and other targeted relief. Call toll-free at 866-544-7573. The toll-free number is provided courtesy of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU).

Today, House leaders released the House economic recovery package, which includes vitally important nutrition program investments and other targeted relief. Economists from across the political spectrum agree that boosting SNAP/Food Stamp benefits has the greatest proven stimulative impact of any strategy. That and other provisions are targeted to the very populations hardest hit by the current downturn. Moreover, these investments would lay the groundwork for meeting President-elect Obama's stated campaign goal - reiterated by USDA Secretary-elect Tom Vilsack at his confirmation hearing yesterday - to eliminate domestic childhood hunger by 2015.

The recovery legislation is expected to be marked up House Committees shortly after the Inauguration. The spending provisions, which make up a majority of the package, fall under the jurisdiction of the House Appropriations Committee. For a summary of those provisions, click here (pdf). The tax provisions fall under the jurisdiction of the House Ways and Means Committee. For a summary of the tax provisions, click here (pdf).

Details on anti-hunger priorities for House action still are unfolding, including regarding whether some items that were omitted from the recovery package will be addressed in the separate annual appropriations bill for FY 2009. It is expected that the Committee will include the hundreds of millions of dollars needed to fully fund WIC caseloads in its FY 2009 Appropriations Bill. While the economic recovery package also has no increase for either The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP) or the Commodity Supplemental Food Program (CSFP), anti-hunger advocates will seek to secure such funding either in the economic recovery package as it proceeds through Congress or in the FY 2009 Appropriations Bill. FRAC will update you as developments occur.

A Senate economic recovery package also is expected to be released in coming days. House and Senate leaders aim to finish action on the economic recovery bill and get it to the President's desk in February. They have warned lawmakers that the President's Day recess period could be cancelled if final action has not occurred by then.

Call your House and Senate members to urge them to support the nutrition and other low-income investments in the recovery package.

Summary of Select Provisions in the Economic Recovery Package:

Nutrition Provisions:

  • Supplemental Nutrition Assistance (SNAP/Food Stamps): $20 billion to boost nutrition assistance and to lift restrictions that limit the amount of time individuals can receive food stamps. This provision will provide a 13.6 percent increase in the allotment for FY 2009 and keep the amount at that level in FY 2010. Beneficiary families desperately need this benefit's increase to cope with rising food prices and worsening economic conditions. In addition, an extra $300 million will go to states in the FY 2009-2010 period for states to administer increased caseloads.
  • Afterschool Meals: $726 million to make all states eligible to participate in the Afterschool Feeding Program for At-Risk Children and to encourage participation by new institutions by increasing snack reimbursement rates. Currently, only eight states (Delaware, Illinois, Michigan, Missouri, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia) are authorized to provide suppers in afterschool care programs through the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP). Expanding at-risk afterschool suppers to all states will allow institutions currently serving snacks under this component of the CACFP to expand their services to include an evening or weekend meal to an identified population of children in need.
  • WIC Management Information Systems (MIS): $100 million to improve state management information systems for the WIC program.
  • Senior Nutrition Programs: $200 million for formula grants to states for elderly nutrition services including Meals on Wheels and Congregate Meals.

Other Select Provisions Targeted to Needy People and Communities:

  • Tax Provisions Targeting Low-Income Households: This expands the Child Tax Credit by lowering the threshold to $0. It also includes an expansion of the Earned Income Tax Credit. For a summary of the tax provisions, click here (pdf). The Child Tax Credit improvement means that millions of families will get this refundable credit for the first time, and millions of other low and moderate-income families will receive a larger credit.
  • Payments to Disabled and Elderly Persons: $4.2 billion to help 7.5 million low-income disabled and elderly individuals with rising costs by providing an additional SSI payment equal to the average monthly federal payment under the program (approximately $450 for an individual and $630 for a couple). This one-time payment will serve as an immediate economic stimulus, as half of SSI recipients have no other form of income and the other half average outside income of less than $450 per month.
  • Community Services Block Grant: $1 billion for grants to local communities to support employment, food, housing, and health care efforts serving those hardest hit by the recession. Community action agencies have seen dramatic increases in requests for their assistance due to rising unemployment, housing foreclosures, and high food and fuel prices.
  • Community Development Block Grants: $1 billion for community and economic development projects including housing and services for those hit hard by tough economic times.
  • Emergency Food and Shelter: $200 million to help local community organizations provide food, shelter, and support services to the nation's hungry, homeless, and people in economic crisis, including one-month utility payments to prevent service cut-off and one-month rent or mortgage assistance to prevent evictions or help people leave shelters. Funds are distributed by formula based on unemployment and poverty rates.
  • Low-Income Home Energy Assistance: $1 billion to help low-income families pay for home heating and cooling at a time of rising energy costs.
  • Child Support Enforcement: $1 billion to provide federal incentive funds for states to collect support owed to families.

Feedback and Technical Assistance:
For feedback on your contacts with Members of Congress, questions about the package or legislative process, contact eteller@frac.org or evollinger@frac.org.