Farm Bill--Nutrition

[Tom Trail <ttrail@moscow.com>]

Visionaries--I've received some recents calls asking about the Nutrition
component  of the
recently passed farm bill by Congress and signed by the President.  Noted
below are the
major sections of the Nutrition part of the bill.   The nutrition part of
the bill's cost is $6.1 billion.

 1.  Reinstates benefits for legal immigrants who have lived in the U.S.
for at least 5 years.  Also
      restores benefits for legal immigrant children and disabled
individuals with out minimum
      residency requirements.

 2. Provides 5 months of transitional benefits for households leaving
Temporary Asistance to Needy
     Families (TANF)

 3. Includes provisions to simplify and streamline the food stamp program
so that it better aligns
     with other public assistance programs and helps both recipeints and
state administrators.

 4. Reforms and streamlines the food stamp program quality control system.

 5. Increases funding for the Emergency Food Assistance program to $140
million per year.
     Provides commodities to food banks and soup kitchens and expands other
commodity
     distribution programs.

 6. Provides an increase in funding for both the Senior and WIC Farmers'
Market Nutrition
     Programs.

 7. Provides additional commoditiesfor the school lunch programs and
includes a pilot
      program through which fresh fruits and vegetables will be provided
free in schools.

Rep. Tom Trail/Dist. 5

Dr. Tom Trail
International Trails
1375 Mt. View Rd.
Moscow, Id. 83843
Tel:  (208) 882-6077
Fax:  (208) 882-0896
e mail ttrail@moscow.com