Durbin Bill To Help End Hunger Added To Farm Bill

Press Release

Durbin Bill To Help End Hunger Added To Farm Bill

United States Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) today announced that the language of his bill, The Hunger-Free Communities Act, was included in the 2007 Farm Bill. The Farm Bill was approved unanimously by the Senate Agriculture Committee and now heads to the full Senate for debate.

Durbin's proposal increases federal resources available to locally-based organizations working to end hunger in their communities. Additionally, the legislation reaffirms the goal of cutting food insecurity and ending hunger in the United States and requires the Secretary of Agriculture to provide status reports on the progress toward that goal.

"Hunger is not a partisan issue, and we now have the opportunity to forge a new bipartisan partnership, committed to addressing hunger in communities all across our country," Durbin said. "During the 1960s and 1970s, under both Democratic and Republican Administrations, our country put in place programs that substantially reduced the number of people who struggle to feed their families. Unfortunately, today hunger and food insecurity has been on the rise. That is why having the Hunger-Free Communities Act included in the Farm Bill is so important."

The bipartisan Hunger Free Communities bill was first introduced on April 19, 2007 and is cosponsored by U.S. Senators Pete Domenici (R-NM), Russell Feingold (D-WI), Edward Kennedy (D-MA), Richard Lugar (R-IN), Blanche Lincoln (D-AR), Bill Nelson (D-FL), Barack Obama (D-IL), Jack Reed (D-RI), Gordon Smith (R-OR), Ron Wyden (D-OR). The House version of the bill was introduced by Congressman Jim McGovern (D-MA) and cosponsored by Congresswoman Jo Ann Emerson (R-MO).

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's most recent report on hunger and food insecurity, 13.4 million households - representing 38.1 million people, nearly 14 million of whom are children - experienced hunger or the risk of hunger. This represents more than one in ten households in the United States.

The Hunger-Free Communities Act of 2007 directs the Secretary of the Department of Agriculture to report on national hunger and food security data, the progress toward the goals of cutting food insecurity and ending hunger, and the impact of hunger on the health of our communities. It also requires the Secretary to provide recommendations to further reduce hunger.

The legislation also directs Congress to establish an anti-hunger grant program, the first of its kind, with an emphasis on assessing hunger in individual communities and promoting cooperation and collaboration among local anti-hunger groups. The bill will also create an additional grant program to expand the efforts and build the infrastructure of local anti-hunger groups, especially those in underserved areas and areas where rates of food insecurity, hunger, poverty, or unemployment are higher than the national average. These public/private partnerships will be funded through a $50 million a year, five-year grant program to help communities reduce, and ultimately eliminate, hunger.

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