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Food, Nutrition, and Consumer Services
Statement of Eric M. Bost, Under Secretary
Food, Nutrition, and Consumer Services
Before the Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development,
Food and Drug Administration and Related Agencies
March 28, 2006
Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and
members of the subcommittee for this opportunity to present the
Administration’s fiscal year 2007 budget request for USDA’s Food,
Nutrition, and Consumer Services (FNCS).
I would like to begin my testimony
by introducing the members of the FNCS leadership team joining me at the
table this morning. Accompanying me are Kate Coler, Deputy Under
Secretary for Food, Nutrition, and Consumer Services; Roberto Salazar,
Administrator of the Food and Nutrition Service (FNS), and Dr. Eric
Hentges, Executive Director of the Center for Nutrition Policy and
Promotion (CNPP).
I am here today to discuss with
you the President’s budget request which demonstrates the
Administration’s steadfast commitment to our Nation’s nutrition
assistance programs. These programs ensure a nutrition safety net for
the Nation’s children, elderly and low-income households and, in
conjunction with the Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion, inform
all Americans about the importance of good nutrition and physical
activity. I am proud of our accomplishments and honored to work for a
President who provides clear and continued support for these programs
that protect our children and low-income households from hunger, and
help to prevent the health risks associated with poor nutrition and
physical inactivity for all our citizens.
Our Federal nutrition assistance
programs are there to meet the needs of Americans, not just in their
everyday life, but also in times of disaster. I am so proud of my
staff’s efforts in the aftermath of the recent hurricanes. When the
victims of Hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma needed our programs, we
responded immediately. Cutting through red tape, simplifying
requirements, trucking and airlifting food, expediting services, working
around the clock, our staff worked side by side with State and local
staff and volunteers to help the evacuees get the food they needed. We
even negotiated with other States to borrow eligibility workers to help
meet high program demand within disaster States. Over $900 million in
Food Stamp benefits were provided to over 1.9 million affected
households. For situations where food stamps could not meet the needs,
we worked in cooperation with the Agricultural Marketing Service, made
commodity purchases; sped up planned deliveries already in the pipeline;
and diverted product from other parts of the country to move commodities
where they were most needed. In total, we provided over 22 million
pounds of baby food, formula, meats, pasta products, fruits and
vegetables for congregate feeding and also for distribution to
households for home consumption.
I am proud to report to you today
that the Federal nutrition assistance programs staff, at every level,
succeeded in providing a timely and robust nutrition response to these
devastating storms. This response underscores the value and high level
of performance of these programs and the people at the Federal, State
and local level who make them work across the country, every day. These
programs truly operated as a safety net in the days and months
immediately following these disasters. The President’s budget is
committed to keep these vital programs strong.
Mr. Chairman, this budget, more
than any other I have presented to you, reflects the fundamental
challenge of this Administration: ensuring that the needs of all
eligible persons seeking to participate in our programs are met while at
the same time protecting the interests of current and future generations
who must accept the consequence, both economic and social, of the
unsustainable levels of deficit spending and Federal debt. Not all of
our existing programs are funded in this request, but 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. This is the first budget request I have presented
to you that includes an overall decrease in resources requested. That
decrease, however, in no way represents a wavering in the
Administration’s demonstrated, consistent support for the Nation’s
nutrition safety net. 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 2007.
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This includes a monthly
average participation of 25.9 million persons in the Food Stamp
Program. This represents a decrease of approximately 1 million from
fiscal year 2006, the first projected decrease in participation in
five years. This reduction results, in large part, from sustained
strong economic performance and the transition of Gulf Coast
disaster participants to self-sufficiency.
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Participation in the WIC
program is expected to rise slightly in fiscal year 2007 from 8.17
million participants a month to 8.22 million.
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In the School Meals Programs,
daily meal service to our youth will reach 30.9 million students in
the National School Lunch Program and 10.3 million students in the
School Breakfast Program.
Three principle objectives guide
our administration of these programs, 1) to ensure that low-income
people have access to food by ensuring sufficient funding for the major
nutrition assistance programs; 2) to promote healthful diets and active
lifestyles by making nutrition education an integral part of the
nutrition assistance programs; and 3) to manage prudently and
efficiently so that every dollar invested has maximum benefit for those
truly in need. The President’s budget request for fiscal year 2007, like
all prior requests submitted by this Administration, reflects these
prime objectives.
Ensuring Low Income Persons
have Access to Food
At its most basic level, ensuring
program access must begin with making certain that sufficient resources
are available so all who are eligible and in need can have ready access
to benefits. The President’s fiscal year 2007 budget requests funds to
support anticipated participation 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, and provides for contingency funding should program costs
exceed our estimates. 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 and myself, through
properly funded contingency reserves. In the Food Stamp Program we have
continued the funding for the contingency reserve of $3 billion. These
funds are especially important as the program transitions out of a
period of growth and begins to reflect the benefits of strong economic
performance the Nation has been enjoying. In the WIC Program,
approximately $125 million remains available to ensure that the
essential food, nutrition education, and health care referral services
remain available to all who need them.
For the first time, the President
has proposed a contingency reserve for the Child Nutrition Programs. The
reserve, proposed at $300 million, will ensure that sufficient resources
are available to fully fund the mandatory entitlement payments to our
State and local partners who make certain that nutritious, appealing
meals are available to all our children in schools and many childcare
settings.
Promoting Healthful Diets and
Active Lifestyles
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, and the Center for Nutrition Policy
and Promotion’s (CNPP) focus on the broader population, 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 epidemic 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 $675
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 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. This request features an increase of $2 million to support the
efforts of the CNPP to maintain and enhance the extremely well-received
food guidance system, MyPyramid.gov, which is one of the most frequently
visited of all Federal websites for the public. In addition, base
funding will allow CNPP to begin preparations for the 2010 update to the
Dietary Guidelines for Americans for which USDA is the lead Federal
agency.
Managing Prudently and
Efficiently
With this budget request, we are
asking the Nation to entrust us with over $57 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. As I
noted earlier, in fiscal year 2004, the most recent year for which data
is available, the Food Stamp Program achieved a record high payment
accuracy rate of 94.1 percent, up 0.7 percent points from the fiscal
year 2003 level of 93.4 percent. Our budget request included an increase
of $4 million in the Nutrition Program Administration account focused on
sustaining the momentum we have achieved to improve the Food Stamp
payment accuracy and overall program integrity.
We have proposed elimination of
restrictive language that prohibits the use of funds appropriated in the
program accounts for the purpose of studies and evaluations. This
proviso has limited our capacity to support and assess program
innovations, many of which are initiated by our State and local
partners. Lifting this restriction will help us to document results more
effectively, and contribute to better program management.
We also continue to develop
strategies to improve the accuracy of eligibility determinations in our
school meals programs – an issue of mutual concern to all those that
care about these programs. 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 school meals.
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 2007 request.
Food Stamp Program
The Food Stamp Program is fully
funded in the President’s budget at $37.9 billion. This will support an
anticipated average monthly participation of 25.9 million persons, about
1 million persons lower than expected in fiscal year 2006. This displays
a key strength of the Food Stamp Program: its ability to respond
dynamically to the changing levels of need within American society. We
responded to the hurricanes in the Gulf Coast this past fall, providing
benefits to 1.9 million affected households. Elsewhere, the program is
now responding to the strength of the economy, and is no longer growing
as it did in recent years.
Should our estimate of fiscal year
2007 program participation or cost prove to be too low, the program
continues to be protected by a contingency reserve, proposed at $3
billion in new budget authority for fiscal year 2007. 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 guaranteeing that sufficient funds will be available to meet the
entitlement components of the program.
We continue to aggressively
promote the message that Food Stamps Make America Stronger, in the sense
that the program puts healthy food on the tables of low-income families
and has a positive effect on local economies. The President’s budget
features proposals targeted at ensuring those in need can access
benefits without sacrificing their retirement savings, making certain
that all persons in need face the same program eligibility requirements
regardless of where they live, and improving the ease and accuracy of
the certification process so each household receives the proper benefit
level. Given tough budget constraints, the food stamp proposals focus on
those who are most needy.
The President’s budget proposes to
expand and make mandatory the exclusion, first made a State option for
401(k) and Keogh accounts in the 2002 Farm Bill, of the value of
tax-preferred retirement accounts from the asset test. This exclusion
strengthens retirement security policy and enables low-income people to
get nutrition assistance without depleting their retirement savings. It
also simplifies food stamp resource policy and makes it more equitable
because under current law some retirement accounts are excluded and some
are included. This proposal supports the President’s Ownership Society
Initiative, by increasing the ability of low-income people to save for
retirement. It is expected, when fully implemented, to add approximately
100,000 persons to the program and to increase benefits by $592 million
over 5 years. The majority of the new participants will be workers and
their families, most with children. On average, each new household will
get $122 in benefits each month.
While we seek to encourage all who
are eligible and in need to participate in the program, we feel strongly
we must also ensure that access to the program is administered in an
equitable manner across all States. For this reason we have once again
included a proposal to eliminate categorical food stamp eligibility for
Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) participants who receive
only services and not cash benefits. The people affected by this
proposal have income or assets that exceed the program’s regular limits.
When fully implemented in fiscal year 2008, this change is estimated to
affect approximately 300,000 individuals and save $658 million over five
years. The President’s proposal restores equity among participants and
ensures that food stamp benefits go to individuals with the most need
while retaining categorical eligibility for the much larger number of
recipients who receive cash assistance through TANF, Supplemental
Security Income and General Assistance.
Also included in the budget
request is a proposal to add the Food Stamp Program to the list of
programs for which States may access the National Directory of New
Hires. Access to this national repository of employment and unemployment
insurance data will enhance States’ ability to quickly and accurately
make eligibility and benefit level determinations, improving program
integrity. This proposal is expected to produce a net savings of $1
million annually beginning in fiscal year 2008.
Finally, the budget request
reflects our continued commitment in two important areas. First the
President’s request includes a proposal to exclude special military pay
received by members of the armed forces deployed in combat zones when
determining Food Stamp Program eligibility and benefit amounts for their
families back home. This proposal has been provided for in
appropriations law in previous years, where it is requested again.
Second, the Administration remains committed to working with Congress on
a name change for the program. The President’s request continues the
process that began in 2006 to gather information related to a proposed
name change for Congressional consideration.
Child Nutrition Programs
A base increase of $685 million is
requested to fully fund 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 2000, average daily participation in the National
School Lunch Program has climbed from 27.2 million to an estimated 30.9
million in fiscal year 2007. In the School Breakfast Program, 10.3
million children will be served each day in fiscal year 2007, up from
7.8 million in fiscal year 2000.
Should this increase not prove
sufficient to fully cover program costs, the budget request proposes an
additional increase of $300 million to, for the first time, fund a
contingency reserve for the Child Nutrition Programs. This reserve will
serve to ensure access to these important services to all children and
make certain that funds are available to meet our mandatory obligations
to our State and local partners in the administration of the Child
Nutrition Programs.
Improving both the nutrition of
children and their awareness of the role that healthy food choices and
physical activity play in promoting overall well being are core goals of
these programs. The Food and Nutrition Service is reviewing the new
Dietary Guidelines, as well as the Dietary Reference Intakes, and
working to incorporate their recommendations into our nutrient standards
and meal patterns. Additional resources requested under the Nutrition
Program Administration for Cross-Program Nutrition Education will help
us to incorporate family-based approaches to nutrition education into
the Child Nutrition Programs and to leverage those messages and
materials to improve nutrition education and promote smart food choices
and physical activity across all of the nutrition assistance programs.
We also are continuing efforts to promote healthy behaviors through
support for implementation of local school-based wellness programs
required by the Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization Act of 2004.
WIC
In fiscal year 2007, the
President’s budget request of $5.2 billion anticipates supporting
critical services to a monthly average participation of 8.2 million
women, infants and children through the Special Supplemental Nutrition
Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC). While this request is a
small decrease from the enacted fiscal year 2006 level, in combination
with available prior-year resources it will support a slight increase
from anticipated fiscal year 2006 participation levels. The $125 million
contingency reserve appropriated in fiscal year 2003 and replenished in
fiscal year 2005, remains available to the program should participation
or food costs exceed our projections. We currently do not anticipate the
need to access the contingency reserve in either fiscal year 2006 or
fiscal year 2007.
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 higher than those established for participation for WIC are
eligible for Medicaid. Included in the budget request is a proposal to
limit adjunctive eligibility based on participation in Medicaid to those
individuals whose incomes are below 250 percent of Federal poverty
guidelines.
The budget also reflects the
Administration’s dual commitment to both support the WIC Program and to
control discretionary spending growth. We are committed to working with
our State partners to manage program costs to ensure future access to
this critical program for all who are eligible and seek its services.
The President’s budget contains a two-part proposal that will allow us
to reduce Federal expenditures on Nutrition Services and Administration
(NSA) with the participation of the States. WIC is currently one of the
few Federal programs that do not require matching funds for
administration funds. The President’s budget proposes a 20 percent State
matching on NSA funds that would take effect in fiscal year 2008. The
one-year delay in implementation is essential so that the States can
incorporate this new requirement into their fiscal plans. As a
transitional step, we are renewing our proposal to cap the level of NSA
funding at 25 percent of the total level grants to States in fiscal year
2007. We will also continue our long successful partnership with the
States in containing food package cost growth through sharing of best
practices and providing technical assistance in the implementation of
food cost containment strategies.
Commodity Supplemental Food
Program (CSFP)
The President’s fiscal year 2007
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.
USDA 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 FSP. 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 supporting
role for 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 fully 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 $160.4 million
in our Nutrition Programs Administration account, which reflects an
increase of $18.6 million in our Federal administrative funding. This
account supports Federal management and oversight of a portfolio of
program resources totaling $57 billion, almost 60 percent of the USDA
budget.
A key component of this year’s
request is a $4 million increase to support additional program integrity
and accountability efforts in the Food Stamp Program. These resources
would support up to 40 additional staff dedicated to continuing our
strong record of results in improving payment accuracy and improving our
ability to provide oversight and technical assistance to our State
partners. While I am very proud of our accomplishments in program
integrity, maintaining those gains and achieving further improvement in
payment accuracy is a daunting 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 also requests an
increase of $2 million to support the efforts of the Center for
Nutrition Policy and Promotion. These resources will continue the
Center’s work on MyPyramid and will support up to an additional 4 staff
years dedicated to this initiative.
Also included in the President’s
request is $6 million to support important program assessment and
evaluation activities examining program integrity issues and ways to
improve the delivery of benefits and services with the Food Stamp
Program.
Other increases contained in the
budget request include the $3 million for Cross-Program Nutrition
Education efforts, $3.5 million to support FNCS’ participation in the
OMB’s government-wide initiative to modernize and better integrate
financial management systems, and $2.8 million to support base pay cost
increases.
The increases requested within
this budget are essential to ensuring that FNCS can continue to
successfully execute its basic program administration, oversight and
fiscal stewardship duties. We understand the difficult budgetary
circumstances the Federal Government now faces and support and have
participated in the tough choices that must be made. However, it is
essential that FNCS address the serious challenge posed by both the
accumulated effect of over a decade of staffing reductions and the loss
of critical skills and experience inherent in the impending retirement
of close to 30 percent of its workforce over the next five years.
I have begun that process by
improving the management of human capital planning processes,
strengthening services provided to employees, and implementing programs
designed to improve the efficiency, diversity, and competency of the
work force. 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 processes, building strong
partnerships with the State and local entities which administer our
programs, and taking advantage of technological innovations. We are
extremely proud of what we have accomplished and continue to seek new
ways to meet the challenges before us. However our ability to continue
to reliably meet these challenges will be in question if staffing levels
continue to decline.
Mr. Chairman, I appreciate the
opportunity to present to you this budget and what it means for the
millions of Americans that count on us for nutrition assistance. I would
be happy to answer any questions you may have. |
