Congress Approves FY2010 Agriculture Spending Bill

Adds Three States and D.C. to Afterschool Meal Program,
Boosts WIC Fruit and Vegetable Vouchers for Women,
Includes One-Year Extension of Child Nutrition Programs and New One-Time Funding Opportunities

Anti-hunger Advocates and Low-Income Families Score Major Victories

The bill:

  • provides tens of billions in ongoing nutrition program support;
  • adds Connecticut, Nevada, and Wisconsin plus the District of Columbia to the ten states already covered in the Afterschool Meal Program;
  • boosts WIC fruit and vegetable vouchers for women to the IOM-recommended levels;
  • invests new funding in the Commodity Supplemental Food Program, summer nutrition, child care food, school equipment, and school meal direct certification.

The bill also extends the child nutrition programs for one year (to September 30, 2010) in order to give Congress more time to reauthorize them, as well as funds new one-time grant opportunities. Although the bill extends the programs for one year, Congressional leaders have expressed their resolve to complete the reauthorization process within the next 6 months - before passage of the new FY2011 budget resolution in the spring.

View the entire conference report.

What’s Next:

FRAC will share strategies on how to best maximize the new, one-time grant opportunities that are in the bill, which will provide expanded nutrition program access and participation for low-income women and children. Meanwhile, the next six months are critical to push ahead on Child Nutrition Reauthorization priorities.

Bill Highlights:

WIC:
$7.252 billion to serve an estimated 9.6 million women, infants and children.
In an important development, Congress provided $41 million for a $2 boost to the value of the fruit and vegetable vouchers for women participating in WIC. This increase will bring the women’s fruit and vegetable vouchers up to the $10 per month recommended by the Institute of Medicine. FRAC applauds this move, but remains committed to a full expansion to the IOM-recommended levels for both women and children.

USDA is planning to fast track regulations for the additional fruit and vegetable benefits, aiming to complete the process in 60 days.

Visit the WIC section for  information, including Estimated State-by-State Value of the Additional Fruit and Vegetable Benefits, The WIC Food Package: More Fruits and Vegetables Support Good Health and Healthy Communities; and Time for a Change Guide: Maximizing the Benefits of the New WIC Foods.

WIC administrative improvements in the bill include $80 million for a breastfeeding support initiative and $60 million for updating WIC’s computer systems.

Afterschool Meals Program Expanded:
The bill adds three more states (Connecticut, Nevada, Wisconsin) and the District of Columbia to the popular Afterschool Meal Program (previously available only in ten states). FRAC will continue to seek a national expansion of the program in the upcoming Child Nutrition Reauthorization.

Learn more about Afterschool Meals and download tips and outreach tools.

One-Year CNR Extension Includes New Nutrition Initiatives, $125 Million for New Initiatives:

Highlights:

  • Summer Food Pilots: $85 million for demonstration projects to develop and test methods that would increase access to food for low-income children in urban and rural areas during the summer months.
  • Direct Certification: $22 million to improve direct certification from SNAP to school meal eligibility and $3 million for direct certification technical assistance. USDA is directed to give this money to states with the lowest number of children directly certified.
  • CACFP Nutrition and Health: $8 million in grants to CACFP to improve the nutrition and health of children in child care. USDA will award the grants on a competitive basis to state CACFP agencies, with CACFP sponsors eligible for subgrants.
  • School Equipment: $25 million for school food service equipment grants. There were similar grants in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) and USDA received requests for several times the amount ($100 million) available. Priority will be given to school districts that did not receive a grant under ARRA and to schools with 50 percent or more of their students eligible for free or reduced-price meals.
  • WIC Breastfeeding: $5 million for WIC breastfeeding performance bonus payments to state agencies that demonstrate the highest proportion of breastfed infants or the greatest improvement in proportion of breastfed infants.

H1N1 Flu:
The bill also gives USDA the authority to provide EBT cards for the value of missed school meals to eligible children attending schools closed for at least 5 consecutive days because of the H1N1 flu. States would submit plans for USDA approval to provide supplemental allotments for the value of meals at the free rate over the course of 5 school days for each eligible child in the household.

Other Nutrition Funding in the Appropriations Bill:

Commodity Supplemental Food Program (CSFP) - Funding for CSFP is $171 million, of which $5 million is designated to expand the current 32-state program to seven new states: Arkansas, Oklahoma, Delaware, Utah, New Jersey, Georgia, and Maine.

Food Bank Programs: TEFAP funding for commodity and storage grants was provided at $49.95 million and the Food Bank Infrastructure Grant Program received $6 million.

The Congressional Hunger Center Hunger Fellows Program received $3 million to continue the anti-hunger work of the Mickey Leland and Bill Emerson Hunger Fellows.

The Hunger Free Communities program received $5 million.

For additional information on the Ag Appropriations conference report, contact Ellen Teller, eteller(at)frac.org, 202-986-2200, x3013 or Etienne Melcher, emelcher(at)frac.org, x3012.