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TEFAP ALERT: SUPPORT FARM BILL AND VETO OVERRIDE! Please contact your Representative and Senators immediately and urge her or him to vote for the Farm Bill. As President Bush has stated he will veto the bill, also ask your Representative and Senators to override the anticipated Presidential veto of the Farm Bill. Congress has completed its work on the 2008 Farm Bill. House and Senate floor votes are being scheduled this week, perhaps as early as May 14, 2008. The legislation, H.R. 2419, includes considerable improvements to The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP), including:
For further help or information, contact Zy or Barbara at 512-715-0232 or bvauthier@tefapalliance.org. To learn more about what you can do to help TEFAP, click on the "Take Action" button. 
___________ FARM BILL UPDATE Conference Agreement Reached on Nutrition Title Senate and House negotiators have approved new funding of $10.365 billion for programs in the Nutrition Title of the Farm Bill (H.R. 2419) for the next decade. The bulk of the spending is dedicated to improvements in the Food Stamp Program, including an increase in the minimum benefit, an uncapping of the dependent care deduction, an increase in the asset limits, and a boost in the standard deduction. The bill provides an additional $1.256 billion for The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP) over the ten-year period. Funding for commodity purchases will be increased to $250 million annually and indexed for inflation. It Ain’t Over Yet Although tentative agreement on the nutrition title has been reached, other aspects of the wide-ranging Farm Bill have not been settled and budget projections may require some further funding adjustments. Current law has been extended until May 16 to allow for the completion of negotiations. Advocacy and Thanks Needed Thanks to those of you who contacted Members of Congress to solicit their support for TEFAP improvements. Please thank them for their support of food programs and urge them to finish passing a Farm Bill with the strongest possible nutrition title – including improvements in food stamps and more funding for TEFAP. ___________ FARM BILL ALERT: Future of TEFAP Being Decided; ACT NOW! Leaders of the House and Senate Agriculture Committees and other key members of Congress are making final decisions this week on the future of nutrition and agriculture programs in the Farm Bill, including The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP). Farm Bill conferees are looking at a Senate provision that provides $250 million annually in mandatory funds for TEFAP food purchases through fiscal year 2012 versus a House provision that provides the $250 million annually and adjusts it for inflation, an important consideration with today’s skyrocketing food costs. A total of 60 Representatives and Senators have been appointed to a Farm Bill conference committee to work out House-Senate differences in program revisions and funding sources, though no agreements have been made to date. Consequently, There is still time to influence the outcome of the Farm Bill! CONTACT YOUR REPRESENTATIVES AND SENATORS TODAY AND ASK THEM TO CONTACT FARM BILL CONFEREES TO SUPPORT $250 ANNUALLY FOR TEFAP FOOD PURCHASES, INDEXED FOR INFLATION. A listing of 49 House conferees may be viewed at: http://www.house.gov/apps/list/press/agriculture_dem/pr_040908_conferees.html. The 11 Senate conferees are: Tom Harkin (D-IA), chair of the Senate Agriculture Committee; chair of the Senate Finance Committee, Max Baucus (D-MT); chair of the Senate Budget Committee, Kent Conrad (D-ND); chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Patrick Leahy (D-VT); Senate Agriculture Committee Member Blanche Lincoln (D-AR) and Senate Agriculture Committee Member Debbie Stabenow (D-MI); Ranking Agriculture Committee Member Saxby Chambliss (R-GA); former Senate Agriculture Committee chair Richard Lugar (R-IN); Ranking Member of the Senate Finance Committee, Charles Grassley (R-IA); Ranking Member Senate Appropriations Committee, Thad Cochran (R-MS); and Senate Agriculture Committee Member Pat Roberts (R-KS). Please let us know if we can assist you in any way to make congressional contacts – Zy Weinberg at: zyweinberg@tefapalliance.org and/or Barbara Vauthier at: bvauthier@tefapalliance.org. ___________ Support a TEFAP Increase in the 2007 Farm Bill Hunger in America is growing while a vital federal resource to feed those in need is declining! Though food around the nation are facing an overwhelming increase in the need for food, commodities available under The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP) have dropped significantly since 2001. It’s time to turn that around. We need more food for TEFAP now! TEFAP, a mainstay of America’s emergency food system, provided only $201 million worth of food in 2006, less than half the amount distributed in 2001. There has been a precipitous drop in the amount of “bonus” commodities, or surplus foods, received from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). This year, only $67 million in bonus commodities were funneled to TEFAP, just 21 percent of the $319 million provided in 2002. USDA claims that increased efficiency in American agriculture and strong foreign and domestic markets have resulted in fewer surplus items available for purchase and allocation to TEFAP. Regardless, this ill-timed decrease contributes to the hardship experienced by growing numbers of Americans in need of emergency food. The value of government food given to TEFAP peaked in 2001, when USDA provided $418 million – $99 million in purchased or “entitlement” commodities and $319 million in bonus commodities. The 2002 Farm Bill increased entitlement funding for food from $100 million to $140 million annually. But, unlike the Food Stamp Program, food supplies under TEFAP are not tied to increases in need, and the value of entitlement commodities remains frozen at $140 million a year. In reality, however, the value of food purchased is actually less, as states are allowed to convert up to $10 million of food funds annually for distribution expenses in order to cope with rising gasoline and other transportation and storage costs. In 2006, only $134 million in TEFAP entitlement funds were spent on food. With or without the availability of bonus commodities, it is clear to the TEFAP community that entitlement funding for TEFAP – both food and distribution dollars – needs to be significantly increased to deliver a stable means of government support for the program. An opportunity to secure those increases is coming soon – in 2007 – as Congress begins debate on the Farm Bill, the legislation that authorizes TEFAP. To learn more about what you can do to help TEFAP, click on the "Take Action" button.
___________ Foodlinks America is published 24 times a year by California Emergency Foodlink and distributed by Weinberg & Vauthier Consulting, 6412 CR 116, Burnet, Texas 78611; Zy Weinberg and Barbara Vauthier, Editors; email: bvauthier@tefapalliance.org. __________ 
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