UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Food, Nutrition and Consumer Service
Statement of Nancy Montanez Johner, Under Secretary
Food, Nutrition, and Consumer Services
Before the Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development,
Food and Drug Administration and Related Agencies
March 13, 2008
Thank you, Madam Chairwoman, and members of the Subcommittee for this
opportunity to present the Administration’s fiscal year 2009 budget request for
USDA’s Food, Nutrition, and Consumer Services (FNCS).
Before I begin my testimony, I would like to take a moment to introduce to you
the members of the leadership of the Food, Nutrition and Consumer Services
mission area who are accompanying me today. At the witness table is Deputy
Under Secretary Kate Houston, who previously served as Associate Administrator
for Special Nutrition Programs at the Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) and is
appearing before the Subcommittee for the first time today, and Roberto Salazar,
the Administrator of FNS.
I appear before you this morning to present the President’s fiscal year 2009
budget request for FNS and the Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion. Over
the last eight years, our commitment to the nutrition assistance programs has
been guided by three straightforward principles: to reduce hunger and food
insecurity by ensuring that all Americans who are eligible and wish to
participate can receive program services easily, and with dignity and respect;
to help our clients acquire not only good food but also the nutrition skills and
motivation they need to improve the well-being of their families; and finally,
to be conscientious and accountable stewards of the public investment in these
sizable and important programs.
Guided by these simple, yet powerful principles, and working in close
cooperation with our State partners, we have made significant strides in
achieving the Administation’s objectives for FNCS. Since fiscal year 2001,
participation among eligible individuals has increased for all our major
programs, reflecting the success of our efforts to increase awareness and
understanding of the benefits and requirements of our programs among eligible
people, and to improve the participant experience associated with actually
accessing those benefits. Over the same period, our commitment to providing our
participants both nutritious food and the information necessary to make wise
food and physical activity decisions has been evident. Since fiscal year 2001,
our annual investment in nutrition education and promotion has grown over 65
percent, from approximately $475 million to about $788 million in our fiscal
year 2009 budget request. We have carefully reviewed the commodity foods we
provide to our partners and participants directly and taken significant steps to
improve those foods, reducing fat and sodium where appropriate and increasing
the availability of fruits and vegetables.
We have also worked hard to improve management of these programs at the Federal,
State and local levels and to reduce improper payments. I am proud to report
that we have concrete results to show for our efforts. Payment accuracy levels
in the Food Stamp Program have improved steadily over the last eight years and
now stand near record high levels. At the same time, the best available
information indicates that the incidence of benefit trafficking has experienced
a steady, sustained decline. In the school meals programs we have developed and
recently released the first-ever national estimate of payment accuracy. This is
a critical step toward a better understanding of this very complex problem and
the development of policies that improve accuracy without compromising access
for low-income families or unduly increasing the burden on schools.
I am very proud of what we have accomplished and honored to work for a President
with a clear, consistent commitment to these programs that protect children and
low-income households from hunger, and help to prevent the health risks
associated with poor nutrition and physical inactivity.
Madam Chairwoman, this budget request of $64.1 billion reflects the fundamental
challenge facing all of us: ensuring that the needs of all eligible persons
seeking to participate in our programs are met while at the same time striving
to deal forthrightly and responsibly with unsustainable levels of deficit
spending and Federal debt. We have been very careful to make certain to provide
access to nutrition assistance programs for all eligible populations we serve.
We have made tough choices and developed a budget request that makes every
dollar produce maximum benefit for the vulnerable populations served by our
programs and for the Nation as a whole. Funds requested within the budget fully
support our best estimates of demand for program services and cost for the major
nutrition assistance programs in fiscal year 2009.
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This includes a monthly average participation level
of 28.0 million persons in the Food Stamp Program, an increase of
approximately 200,000 over fiscal year 2008 and over 11 million above fiscal
year 2001. This increase reflects our success in improving the rate of
participation among eligible individuals. From fiscal year 2001 through
fiscal year 2005, the last year for which data are available, the Food Stamp
Program participation rate increased from 54 percent to 65 percent.
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WIC participation is projected to reach an all-time
high in fiscal year 2009. While this is only a slight rise from fiscal year
2008, since fiscal year 2001 participation has increased 18 percent or 1.3
million participants.
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In the school meals programs, daily meal service to
our youth is expected to reach 32.1 million students in the National School
Lunch Program and 11.2 million students in the School Breakfast Program.
At the most basic level, ensuring program access must begin with making certain
that sufficient resources are available so that all who are eligible and in need
can have ready access to benefits. The President’s fiscal year 2009 budget
requests funds to support anticipated participation levels in the Food Stamp
Program, the Child Nutrition Programs and the WIC Program. The Administration’s
strong commitment to adequately fund these critical programs acknowledges the
inherent difficulties in anticipating future demand for program services. Should
our estimates of program participation or costs prove too low, we have continued
to protect program access for all eligible persons, a key objective of the
President, through contingency reserves. In the Food Stamp Program we have
continued the request for athe contingency reserve of $3 billion, providing the
program with a total reserve of $6 billion. These funds are especially important
if the program is experiencing a period of increased enrollment such as during
emergencies or natural disasters. In the WIC Program, $150 million is requested
to replenish the contingency reserve to ensure that the essential food,
nutrition education, and health care referral services remain available to all
eligible women, infants, and children who need them.
The budget request also includes $2.5 million to allow us to examine new ways to
better reach historically underserved populations. Specifically, with these
resources we would test strategies to increase Food Stamp Program participation
rates among the elderly and low-income working households.
Our programs provide nutrition assistance, including both access to healthy food
and nutrition education and promotion to support and encourage a healthy
lifestyle. With this nutrition mission in mind, we play a critical role in the
integrated Federal response to the growing public health threat posed by
overweight and obesity which affects well over half of adult Americans.
The Federal nutrition assistance programs play a critical role in combating this
pressing public health issue by providing not just access to healthful food, but
also promoting better health through nutrition education and promotion of
physical activity. These FNS program services, along with the work of the CNPP
to improve the diets of all Americans, are a key component of the President’s
Healthier US Initiative. I believe the American public is served well by USDA’s
contributions to addressing the critical nutrition- and health-related issues
facing us today. This budget request provides approximately $788 million in
resources tied specifically to improving the diets, nutrition knowledge and
behavior and promoting the importance of physical activity among the people we
serve.
The budget request includes $2 million to permit FNS to conduct the fourth cycle
of our School Nutrition and Dietary Assessment. This data collection and
analysis effort will provide critical insight to our continuing efforts to
improve the nutritional quality of the school meals programs. Also included is
$2 million to facilitate the testing and evaluation of promising State practices
in food stamp nutrition education. We believe this work will ultimately lead to
improvements in the effectiveness with which we deliver nutrition messages to
food stamp households.
The CNPP continues to have an integral role in the development and promotion of
updated dietary guidance and nutrition education. The Dietary Guidelines for
Americans (Guidelines), published jointly every 5 years by the USDA and the U.S.
Department of Human Services (HHS), is the cornerstone of Federal nutrition
policy, allowing the Federal Government to speak with one voice. We are
currently at the very beginning of developing of the 2010 Guidelines, an
initiative that we will lead over the next three years. This request features an
increase of $2 million to support the efforts of the CNPP in this leadership
role as well ast to maintain and enhance the extremely well-received food
guidance system, MyPyramid.gov, which is one of the most frequently visited of
all Federal web sites for the public.
With this budget request, we are asking the Nation to entrust us with over $64
billion of public resources. We are keenly aware of the immense responsibility
this represents. To maintain the high level of public trust that we have earned
as good stewards of the resources we manage, we will continue our ongoing
commitment to program integrity as an essential part of our mission to help the
vulnerable people these programs are intended to serve.
This is not a new commitment; our record of success is clear. While the Food
Stamp Program’s 2006 payment accuracy rate of 94.01 percent represents a slight
decrease from the fiscal year 2005 level of 94.16, it represents the third year
in a row of errors below 6 percent, and reflects strong improvement from the
2001 level of 91.34 percent. Early indications are that we will continue to see
success in this area as fiscal year 2007 data become available.
Our budget request includes an increase of $5.7 million in the Nutrition
Programs Administration account focused on sustaining the successful
partnerships we have established working with our colleagues at the State level
to improve the efficiency, effectiveness and financial integrity with which all
of the nutrition assistance programs are administered. We also continue to
develop strategies to improve the accuracy of eligibility determinations in our
Child Nutrition Programs – an issue of concern to all those that care about
these programs. The budget request contains $1 million in the Child Nutrition
Programs account to permit us to build on work funded in fiscal year 2008 and
previous years to develop initial payment accuracy estimates for the Child and
Adult Care Food Program, as required by the Improper Payments Information Act of
2002. Also included in the request is $4.5 million for the demonstration and
evaluation of new and innovative ways to modernize the Food Stamp Program
application process. We hope that this effort will pay dividends in both
streamlining the process and, reducing administrative burden on participants and
improving the accuracy of benefit determinations.
The Federal administrative resources provided for in this budget will allow us
to advance our close work with our State and local program partners on both of
these essential integrity initiatives – continuing both our successes in the
Food Stamp Program and our intensified efforts in Child Nutrition Programs.
In the remainder of my remarks, I’d like to discuss in greater detail a few of
the key proposals contained in the President’s fiscal year 2009 request.
Food Stamp Program
The Food Stamp Program is fully funded in the President’s budget at $43.3
billion. This will support an anticipated average monthly participation of 28.0
million persons. This record level of program participation is an increase of
about 200,000 persons above expected activity in fiscal year 2008. While this
increase in projected participation does, in part, reflect concerns about the
future path of the economy, it also reflects the success of the Administration’s
efforts in conjunction with our State and local partners to improve program
access and reach out to historically underserved populations including
low-income working families, the elderly and the Hispanic community.
Should our estimate of fiscal year 2009 program participation or cost prove to
be inadequate, the program continues to be protected by a contingency reserve,
proposed at $3 billion in new budget authority for fiscal year 2009. As an
alternative to the contingency reserve, the President’s request offers a
proposal of indefinite authority. This form of appropriation would eliminate the
need for an annual contingency reserve appropriation, while at the same time
guarantees that sufficient funds will be available to meett the entitlement
components of the program.
Child Nutrition Programs
An increase of $554.3 million is requested for the Child Nutrition Programs
including our three largest programs serving children: the National School Lunch
Program, the School Breakfast Program, and Child and Adult Care Food Program.
This increase will support the continuing growth in meal service in these
programs with more than 9 billion appealing, nutritious meals provided to all of
our children in schools and many childcare settings. Since fiscal year 2001,
average daily participation in the National School Lunch Program has climbed
from 27.4 million to an estimated 32.1 million in fiscal year 2009. In the
School Breakfast Program, an estimated 11.2 million children will be served each
day in fiscal year 2009, up from 7.8 million in fiscal year 2001.
These programs play an essential role in improving the nutrition of our children
and in promoting their awareness of the role that healthy food choices and
physical activity play in their overall well being. To ensure that these core
program goals are met, support for the Child Nutrition Programs has grown by
over 50 percent since fiscal year 2001, reflecting substantial growth in
participation growth. We continually strive to ensure that these programs are
delivered in a manner that promotes access for all eligible children, reflects
the most up-to-date science-based nutritional practices, and protects the public
investment.
WIC
In fiscal year 2009, the President’s budget request for the Special Supplemental
Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) of $6.1 billion
anticipates providing essential support to a record monthly average of 8.6
million women, infants and children. This is an increase of approximately
100,000 participants per month from anticipated fiscal year 2008 participation
levels. Within this appropriation request, the program contingency fund is
replenished to the $150 million level. The contingency reserve, first proposed
by this Administration in fiscal year 2003, recognizes the uncertainty the
program faces with respect to future food costs and demand for program services.
Additionally, the reserve grants the Secretary the authority to target resources
to States experiencing difficulties rapidly and outside of the standard grant
formula. This flexibility is essential to our ability to deal quickly and
effectively with unexpected increases in food costs or participation as were
experienced in fiscal year 2007.
Finally, the request includes $14.9 million to continue our peer counseling
initiative that is designed to enhance both rates of initiation and duration of
breastfeeding among WIC participants.
The fiscal year 2009 budget proposal continues our request to limit adjunctive
eligibility based on participation in Medicaid to those individuals whose
incomes are below 250 percent of Federal poverty guidelines. In all of the
Federal nutrition assistance programs, the Administration is committed to
ensuring that benefits are targeted to those most in need. WIC applicants can
currently receive adjunctive or automatic eligibility for benefits based on
their participation in other means-tested programs, such as the Food Stamp
Program and Medicaid. However, in some States, individuals with incomes
significantly above the 185 percent of poverty level established for
participation in WIC are eligible for Medicaid. Again this year, we propose to
limit this practice to those individuals whose incomes are below 250 percent of
Federal poverty guidelines.
The budget also reflects the Administration’s commitment to work with its State
partners to manage program costs to ensure future access to this critical
program for all who are eligible and seek services. Historically, WIC State
agencies have been extremely successful in containing food costs. To encourage
State agencies to work with us to achieve similar success in the containment of
Nutrition Services and Administrative (NSA) costs, the budget proposes that the
funds available for NSA in fiscal year 2009 would be limited to a guaranteed
administrative grant per participant (AGP) of $14.97, the fiscal year 2007
level. This reduced AGP level would encourage our State partners to strive for
administrative efficiency and allow for a greater proportion of appropriated
funds to be used for food benefits. It is estimated that the additional
appropriation needed for FY 2009 would be $145 million in the absence of this
proposal.
Commodity Supplemental Food Program (CSFP)
The President’s fiscal year 2009 budget request does not fund CSFP. We face
difficult challenges and decisions with regard to discretionary budget resources
and have chosen to not request funding for this program for several reasons.
First, CSFP is not available in all States. It currently operates in limited
areas of 32 States, two Indian reservations, and the District of Columbia.
Second, its benefits, to a great extent, overlap those available through other
nutrition assistance programs. Finally, we believe our limited resources are
best focused on those programs that are universally available to serve these
needy populations. The priority of the Administration is to ensure the continued
integrity of the national nutrition assistance safety net, including the Food
Stamp Program and WIC. However, we want to acknowledge our CSFP partners at the
State and local level who have worked on behalf of this program.
FNS will work closely with CSFP State agencies to ensure that any negative
effects on program participants are minimized, and that they are transitioned as
rapidly as possible to other nutrition assistance programs for which they are
eligible. The budget request includes funds to support the transition of CSFP
participants to nationally available FNS nutrition assistance programs such as
WIC and Food Stamp Program. The budget requests $2 million to provide outreach
and to assist individuals to enroll in the Food Stamp Program. Elderly
participants who are not already receiving food stamp benefits will be eligible
to receive a transitional benefit worth $20 per month ending in the first month
following enrollment in the Food Stamp Program under normal program rules, or 6
months, whichever occurs first. CSFP women, infants, and children participants
who are eligible for WIC benefits will be referred to that program. Commodities
obtained under agriculture support programs will be redistributed for use in
other nutrition assistance programs, such as TEFAP.
The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP)
TEFAP plays a critical role in supporting the Nation’s food banks. This support
takes the form of both commodities for distribution and administrative funding
for States’ commodity storage and distribution costs. Much of this funding flows
from the States to faith-based organizations, a cornerstone of the food bank
community. The President’s budget requests the full authorized level of $140
million to support the purchase of commodities for TEFAP. Additional food
resources become available through the donation of surplus commodities from
USDA’s market support activities. State and local administrative costs, which
support the food bank community, are funded at $49.5 million in the President’s
request.
Nutrition Programs Administration
We are requesting $150.3 million in our Nutrition Programs Administration
account, which reflects an increase of $8.7 million in our Federal
administrative funding. This account supports Federal management and oversight
of a portfolio of program resources totaling $64.1 billion and accounting for
over 66 percent of the total USDA budget.
A key component of this year’s request is a $5.7 million increase to support the
continuation of our program integrity and accountability efforts across all of
the nutrition assistance programs. These resources would support up to 35 staff
years dedicated to improving the efficiency, effectiveness and financial
integrity of the Nation’s nutrition safety net. While I am very proud of our
accomplishments in improving the management of our programs, maintaining those
gains and achieving further improvements is a challenge. This request represents
a small investment that will pay big dividends in our continuing efforts to make
certain we get the right benefits to the right people.
The budget request also includes $2 million to support the efforts of CNPP.
These resources will assist CNPP as it continues its government-wide leadership
role in the 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans process. The USDA and the HHS,
by law, must review and update the Dietary Guidelines for Americans at least
every five years. The review process for the 2010 update is already under way in
fiscal year 2008. Successful completion of these planning and implementation
initiatives will promote the Federal Government’s goal of speaking with one
voice regarding nutrition policy issues, and will promote USDA’s goal to improve
the diets of Americans by providing sound, scientifically-based nutrition
information.
The resources requested within this budget are essential to ensuring that FNCS
can continue to successfully execute its basic program administration, oversight
and fiscal stewardship duties. With just nominal increases for basic program
administration in most years, FNCS has reduced its Federal staffing levels
significantly over time. We have compensated for these changes by working
smarter – re-examining our business processes, realigning our organizational
structure, building strong partnerships with the State and local entities that
administer our programs, and taking advantage of technological innovations. I am
extremely proud of what we have accomplished and continue to seek new ways to
meet the challenges before us.
Madam Chairwoman, I appreciate the opportunity to present to you this budget
request. I would be happy to answer any questions you may have. Last modified:
11/26/2008 |