Farm Bill Deadline Approaches

As the year draws to a close, Congress has many must-pass items left on its plate.  Perhaps most pressing are the budget and the Farm Bill.  The House is scheduled to adjourn for the year next Friday, Dec. 13, but the Senate does not even return from Thanksgiving recess until next Monday, Dec. 6.  This leaves one week for them to wrap up the first session of the 113^th Congress. 

Of course, that it not to say that conversations are not ongoing.  Indeed, bicameral conference committees on both issues are in the midst of delicate and intense negotiations.  Leaving aside the question of the budget for now, for after all, Congress does have a few weeks into the New Year to come to agreement before the next manufactured fiscal crisis, the focus of the faith community has been on the Farm Bill.

Our nation’s food and farm policies, as embodied in the Farm Bill, impact people and communities from rural America to big cities to developing countries. In the Farm bill are provisions that authorize SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly Food Stamps), international food aid, conservation programs, initiatives that support new and minority farmers and ranchers, rural development programs, sustainable energy research, farm subsidies, crop insurance, just to name the most famous.  In all, the Farm Bill is a mixed bag of policies, some of which promote a more just food system and some that trap us in a vicious cycle of subsidized commodities and under-nutrition.  Nevertheless, the Farm Bill is must-pass, if for no other reason than that it authorizes SNAP and promotes environmentally sustainable practices on working farmlands.  

Write to your Members of Congress to urge a just and comprehensive Farm Bill this year.

In the current budget climate, which incorrectly functions from an assumption of scarcity, the Farm Bill’s limited resources must be effectively targeted where need is greatest. And people are hungry -- the U.S. and around the world. Programs and policies that curb hunger and malnutrition, support vibrant agricultural economies in rural communities, and promote the sustainable use of natural resources must be prioritized.  At the same time, we should be shifting away from investment in programs that subsidize factory farms and promote major commodities as the most viable crops for food and fuel.

Earlier in the year, serious threats were made to the funding of SNAP and on Nov. 1st, SNAP benefits were cut as a 2009 funding increase ran out.  Far from there being room to cut SNAP, most SNAP beneficiaries find that their benefits run out by the third or fourth week of the month and turn to private charity to fill gap.  If anything, we need to invest more in Food Stamp benefits.  SNAP is designed as a counter-cyclical program that expands to meet needs when the economy is bad and people lose income and become eligible.  When the jobs outlook and economy improve, it contracts as participants cycle off the program. 

So, Congress must reauthorize the SNAP program without the proposed cuts.  There is simply no way to achieve significant cuts without affecting benefits and nutrition education programs.  Write today to your members of Congress.

During the week before Thanksgiving, hundreds of Presbyterians, including our leaders Stated Clerk Gradye Parsons, Moderator Neal Presa, and Executive Director Linda Valentine, are taking the Food Stamp/SNAP Challenge.  The Stated Clerk Gradye Parsons reflects on his trip to the grocery store in this article and Linda Valentine allowed the News Service to publish her journal from that week here.  Days after their SNAP Challenge concluded, they sent this letter to Congress.

With the PC(USA)’s long-held convictions about food justice and fair food and farm policy, our interests in the Farm Bill, while very concerned with the nutrition programs, are also much broader that.  In a joint statement with interfaith partners, the PC(USA) called on Congress to pass a Farm Bill that:

• Protects and strengthens programs that reduce hunger and improve nutrition in the United States.
• Promotes investments and policies that strengthen rural communities and combat rural poverty.
• Provides a fair and effective farmer safety net that allows farmers in the U.S. and around the world to earn economically sustainable livelihoods.
• Strengthens policies and programs that promote conservation and protect creation from environmental degradation.
• Protects the dignity, health, and safety, of those responsible for working the land.
• Promotes research related to alternative, clean, and renewable forms of energy that do not negatively impact food prices or the environment.
• Safeguards and improves international food aid in ways that encourage local food security and improve the nutritional quality of food aid.

Write to your Members of Congress here.

To read more about the PC(USA) Office of Public Witness’ advocacy around the Farm Bill and SNAP, visit our farm bill blog.

Food Stamp Challenge and Farm Bill Advocacy

Stated Clerk Gradye Parsons' groceries for the week

This week, hundreds of Presbyterians, including our leaders Stated Clerk Gradye Parsons, Moderator Neal Presa, and Executive Director Linda Valentine are taking the  Food Stamp/SNAP Challenge.  The Stated Clerk reflects on his trip to the grocery store in this article.

While living on a food stamp budget for just a week cannot come close to the struggles encountered by low-income families week after week and month after month, it does offer those who take the Challenge with a new perspective and greater understanding.  For more resources, visit our Food Stamp Challenge page and the Presbyterian Hunger Program.

Authorization of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly Food Stamps) is included in the Farm Bill, on which Congress is working to negotiate a final deal right now.

Write to Congress now and urge them to produce a comprehensive, fair, and faithful Farm Bill.

Earlier in the year, serious threats were made to the funding of SNAP and on Nov. 1st, SNAP benefits were cut as a 2009 funding increase ran out.  Far from there being room to cut SNAP, we are finding out this week that they are already inadequate to meet reasonable, nutritional needs.  If anything, we need to invest more in Food Stamp benefits.  SNAP is a designed as a counter-cyclical program that expands to meet needs when the economy is bad and people lose income and become eligible.  When the jobs outlook and economy improve, it contracts as participants cycle off the program.

Members of Congress need to hear loud and wholehearted support for a program that catches people in their moments of need.

With the PC(USA)’s long-held convictions about food justice and fair food and farm policy, our interests in the Farm Bill, while very concerned with the nutrition programs, are also much broader that. In a joint statement with interfaith partners, the PC(USA) called on Congress to pass a Farm Bill that:

• Protects and strengthens programs that reduce hunger and improve nutrition in the United States.
• Promotes investments and policies that strengthen rural communities and combat rural poverty.
• Provides a fair and effective farmer safety net that allows farmers in the U.S. and around the world to earn economically sustainable livelihoods.
• Strengthens policies and programs that promote conservation and protect creation from environmental degradation.
• Protects the dignity, health, and safety, of those responsible for working the land.
• Promotes research related to alternative, clean, and renewable forms of energy that do not negatively impact food prices or the environment.
• Safeguards and improves international food aid in ways that encourage local food security and improve the nutritional quality of food aid.

In light of our experience this week with the Food Stamp / SNAP Challenge, it is essential that Members of Congress hear from Presbyterians who are concerned about hunger and food justice, at home in the U.S. and around the world.

Write to your Members of Congress here.

To read more about the PC(USA) Office of Public Witness’ advocacy around the Farm Bill and SNAP, visit our blog.

Senate Farm Bill Vote Imminent!

The full Senate is voting on the Farm Bill this week.  This is it!  Our once-in-five-years opportunity to improve this nation’s food and farm policy.  Write to your Senators today, urging them to support a Farm Bill that alleviates hunger and malnutrition, supports vibrant farms and rural communities, and protects God’s creation. 

See a summary of important, harmful amendments outlined in the sample letter to Congress below.*

Why the Farm Bill?

Our nation’s food and farm policies, as embodied in the farm bill, affect people from rural America to inner cities, from our local communities to less industrialized regions around the world. The farm bill is the single largest piece of federal policy impacting our food system. A good farm bill can strengthen nutrition programs like SNAP (formerly Food Stamps), help our struggling rural communities, support new and socially disadvantaged farmers, enhance global food aid to the world’s most impoverished, and encourage farming and ranching practices that protect God’s creation.

Action this Week:

This week, the U.S. Senate is voting on its version of the 2013 Farm Bill (S. 954), with votes on amendments already underway. Now is the time to support a fair Farm Bill, and related amendments, that will help alleviate hunger and malnutrition in the U.S. and around the world, support international development, promote growth in U.S. rural communities, and encourage stewardship of creation.

We need Congress to pass a Farm Bill this year.  The current authorization of the Farm Bill expired in 2012 and without reauthorization, many conservation and innovative, small farm programs will no longer exist, or be left with no funding. Farmers, who engage in an inherently risky business for the good of the rest of us, need the stability that a Farm Bill reauthorization brings.  Farming requires long-term planning and producers need to know what sort of support they can expect from the federal government.  In addition, the largest, most effective anti-hunger program in the nation, SNAP, is authorized through the Farm Bill.

The Senate farm bill is not perfect, but it is the best farm bill we are likely to see from this Congress, especially when compared to the severe cuts to nutrition and conservation programs contained in the House farm bill.  The Senate bill represents an important opportunity to provide stability for farmers, nutrition assistance to the economically vulnerable, food aid to those affected by disaster, development opportunities in rural communities, and land stewardship and conservation for the good of the land for the safety of drinking water. 

Write to your Senators here. 

In particular, tell the Senate to oppose harmful amendments that will codify discrimination in our flagship nutrition program.*

We urge the Senate to support a Farm Bill and amendments that prioritize:

• Domestic Hunger and Nutrition: With continued high unemployment and a struggling economy, Congress should support access to adequate and nutritious food for those in need and oppose attempts to weaken or restructure these programs such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP);
• International Food Security and Development: The Food for Peace program saves people's lives in times of dire emergencies and combats chronic hunger in poor communities around the world. Support reforms to Food for Peace that give aid workers on the ground more flexibility to employ interventions best suited to local conditions and replace monetization. The Administration's budget proposed major changes to food aid that would provide similar flexibility. Urge Congress to adopt such flexibilities in authorizing legislation that also protects funding for emergency assistance and food security development projects;
• Farm Subsidies: It is important to continue a reasonable amount of support for farmers, but we must focus that support on the small and moderate-sized, independent producers who most need a safety net. Given current high commodity prices and federal budget constraints, agricultural subsidies and direct payments should be reduced overall, and targeted to small and moderate-sized farms, especially minority owned-farms. Government resources should assist those who truly need assistance and support those who comply with environmentally sound and sustainable farming practices;
• Conservation and Stewardship: Support full funding for conservation initiatives that promote stewardship of the land and environmentally sound agriculture practices. These programs provide technical assistance and financial incentives for farmers and ranchers to adopt practices aimed at fostering healthy, productive, and non-eroding soils, clean air and water, energy savings and wildlife habitat;
• Rural Development: Rural communities and small towns are the backbone of the social and economic life of America. Effective policies and programs are needed to encourage rural development and promote the culture and well-being of these communities.

Send a Message today!

Tell your Senators to support amendments to strengthen a healthy food and farm policy, make sure that farm supports go to the farms and farmers who most need the aid, and to reject amendments that weaken nutrition, rural development, and conservation programs.  In particular, tell the Senate to oppose harmful amendments that will codify discrimination in our flagship nutrition program.*

For more information on the Senate Farm Bill process and for information and updates about various amendments, visit our blog at http://officeofpublicwitness.blogspot.com/search/label/farm%20bill.  Updates will be posted as debate continues.

* There are two discriminatory amendments of major concern:

1. Oppose Sessions Amdt #947

This amendment would require every citizen member of a SNAP household to produce an original birth certificate or passport to prove citizenship. Also, unless all members of a household provide these papers, the entire household would be disqualified from SNAP. Low-income documented immigrants already are required to provide detailed verification of their immigration status under current law, as are citizen children in immigrant households.  This amendment would delay or deny benefits to native-born U.S. citizens who don’t have a birth certificate or passport.

2. Oppose Vitter Amdt #1056

(Note: this amendment has already been agreed to by unanimous consent, but it’s not too late to make Senators go back and change their minds.)

This amendment Denies SNAP to ex-offenders. The amendment harshly punishes people who committed a single violent crime years or decades ago and fully paid their debt to society. They would be made ineligible for SNAP for life, and SNAP benefits for children or other family members would be cut. It would also impose serious barriers to individuals who are not ex-offenders. Every single individual on SNAP – including children, older adults, and people with disabilities – would have to provide a written statement that neither they nor other members of their household were ever convicted of one of the listed felonies. Urge the Senate to oppose or modify the amendment to address these serious problems. For an in-depth discussion of this amendment, see the CBPP Off the Charts blog.

Action Alert: Food and Farm Policy Moving on Capitol Hill!

This week, both the Senate and the House of Representatives will be making crucial steps to advance food and farm policy. Your voice is needed now: tell your members of Congress to enact a multi-year farm bill that alleviates hunger and malnutrition, supports vibrant farms and rural communities, and protects God’s creation.

The Senate Agriculture Committee is holding its bill “mark-up” today and the House Committee will follow suit tomorrow.

Click here to send a message to your Members of Congress by email.

For a toll-free option, you can dial 1-800-826-3688 to reach your Senators’ and Representatives’ offices.*  (Even if your Senators or Representative do not serve on Agriculture Committees, their support and encouragement are strongly needed for a positive Farm Bill outcome coming out of Committee!)

Our nation’s food and farm policies, as embodied in the farm bill, affect people from rural America to inner cities, from our local communities to less industrialized regions around the world. The farm bill is the single largest piece of federal policy impacting our food system. A good farm bill can strengthen nutrition programs like SNAP (formerly Food Stamps), help our struggling rural communities, support new and socially disadvantaged farmers, enhance global food aid to the world’s most impoverished, and encourage farming and ranching practices that protect God’s creation.

Now is the time to act. Join hundreds of other Christians today by urging Congress to pass a multi-year reauthorization of the farm bill that fights hunger, supports vibrant communities, and protects God’s creation. Write to your Members of Congress now!

Background:

Both the House and Senate Agriculture Committees will be marking up versions of the farm bill this week. Congress failed to pass a farm bill in 2012, and a number of important programs that promote a just and healthy food system are currently without funding. Other programs are continuing, but need the certainty provided by a multi-year farm bill.

The Senate farm bill will likely look very similar to last year's stalled bill with roughly $23 billion in proposed cuts. About $4 billion will come from nutrition programs and roughly another $6 billion from conservation programs. The rest of the major savings will come from changes to commodity and crop insurance programs.

The House bill is expected to cut deeper than last year, aiming for $38 billion in total cuts over ten years. $20 billion of those cuts will come from the nutrition title but it is unclear how the remaining $18 billion will be divided amongst the rest of the titles.

For further reading:

Principles for a Faithful Farm Bill

Ecumenical Advocacy Days “ask” material

Ecumencail Advocacy Days “ask” Talking Points

National Sustainable Agriculture blog

Bread for the World blog

*Talking Points for a Call to Congress:

• I am a member of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) where we are committed to food policies that ensure enough for everyone.  
• I believe that just food policies is one of the tests of our nation and I urge you to work with your congressional colleagues to enact a Farm Bill this year that alleviates hunger and malnutrition, supports vibrant farms and strong communities, and protects God's creation.
• Any Farm Bill you support should:
• Alleviate hunger and malnutrition: the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP (formerly known as Food Stamps), should be protected from cuts and harmful structural changes. 
• Also, Congress should sustain robust international food aid and improve the nutritional quality of food aid. 
• Support vibrant farms and healthy communities: Congress should support programs that help beginning and socially disadvantaged farmers get started in the business of agriculture (like the Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program and the Outreach and Technical Assistance for Socially Disadvantaged Farmers and Ranchers program). 
• Other farm bill programs - like the Farmers Market Promotion Program in the United States and the Local and Regional Procurement program for international food aid - help build local and regional food systems and support the rural communities at their center. 
• These important programs should be funded and expanded in a new farm bill.
• Protect God's creation: A new farm bill should strengthen policies and programs that promote conservation of soil and water and protect creation from environmental degradation. 
• Conservation Compliance: the Farm Bill should require conservation compliance for recipients of federal crop insurance. 
• By requiring basic levels of protection for soil, water, and wetlands, this conservation compact between farmers and taxpayers can help ensure that where public money is invested, our interests are protected. 
• Funds for conservation programs, particularly those for working lands such as the Conservation Stewardship Program, are popular and should not be used to pay for other priorities.
• In a world where there is enough food for everyone, it is shameful that there are people who live in hunger and food insecurity.  We need to promote policies that ensure that our abundant resources reach those who need them.  I support a full five-year reauthorization of the Farm Bill that fights hunger, improves nutrition, supports vibrant farms and communities, and takes active steps to protect God’s good creation.

Action Alert: Ecumenical Advocacy Days

Can't Make it to Ecumenical Advocacy Days?

Join with thousands of faith voices in our 2013 Legislative ASK:

A FULL, MULTI-YEAR REAUTHORIZATION OF THE FARM BILL.

Our nation’s food and farm policies, as embodied in the farm bill, affect people from rural America to inner cities, from our local communities to less industrialized regions around the world. The farm bill is the single largest piece of federal policy impacting our food system. A good farm bill can strengthen nutrition programs, help our struggling rural communities, support new and socially disadvantaged farmers, enhance global food aid to the world’s most impoverished, and encourage farming and ranching practices that protect God’s creation. Congress failed to pass a farm bill in 2012, and a number of important programs that promote a just and healthy food system are currently without funding. Other programs are continuing, but need the certainty provided by a multi-year farm bill.

Congress should enact a farm bill this year that alleviates hunger and malnutrition, supports vibrant farms and healthy communities, and protects God’s creation. Send an email to Congress, urging them to support a full, multi-yearreauthorization of the farm bill that:

Alleviates hunger and malnutrition:

Protects and strengthens programs that reduce hunger and improve nutrition in the United States. We ask that funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP (formerly known as food stamps) be protected from cuts and harmful structural changes that would increase hunger in our nation.

Sustains robust international food aid and improves the nutritional quality of food aid. In view of the ongoing threat of high food prices, natural disasters and humanitarian crises around the world, we ask for robust funding for programs that provide emergency and non-emergency food aid for the hungry. As the world’s largest provider of international food aid, the United States must also lead the way in improving its quality to maximize the nutritional benefit.

Supports vibrant farms and strong communities:

Helps beginning farmers and farmers from socially disadvantaged groups start in the business of agriculture.

We ask Congress to support new farmers by funding programs that are critical in growing the next generation of farmers, an imperative goal in light of the aging of American farmers and in bolstering women and minority farmers.

Builds local and regional food systems and the rural communities at their center.

For communities in the United States, we ask Congress to support programs such as the Farmers Market Promotion Program, which provides new markets for small and mid-sized farmers in suburbs and cities, offering consumers the opportunity to support local producers and giving people in vulnerable communities greater access to fresh food.

For communities around the world, we ask Congress to reform international food aid by purchasing more of the food in the areas where it is consumed. The Local and Regional Procurement Program can help more hungry people for the same cost, support rural development in low-income countries and increase global food security.

Protects God’s creation:

Strengthens policies and programs that promote conservation of soil and water and protect creation from environmental degradation. We ask Congress to protect funding for conservation programs, particularly those for working lands such as the Conservation Stewardship Program, which have substantial waiting lists and serve a diverse base of farmers and ranchers. Funds for these programs should not be used to pay for other priorities. Farms and ranches account for a majority of the land base in many states, and play a key role in ensuring soil and water quality and in maintaining open space and wildlife habitat.

Email Congress Now!