Quickline Alert - June 2007

Bread for the World is asking that we contact Senator Clinton (1-800- 826-3688) by June 8th to ask her to sign the Durbin Dear Colleague letter, supporting strengthening the Food Stamp program as well as other programs affecting low income people in our country. This type of lletter is often sent by one or more members of Congress to another member indicating support for legislation. .

The letter asks the committee to strengthen the Food Stamp Program as it works to reauthorize the farm bill. It supports stopping erosion of benefit levels which now average only $ per meal for each food stamp participant, as well as recognition of the real costs of child care, and the impact of inflation on food costs.

One of the goals of farm bill reform is to expand the nutrition title to strengthen our nation's nutrition programs. This letter is important because the Senate Agriculture Committee is presently writing the farm bill and it is an opportunity for senators who are not on the committee to express their support now for the Food Stamp program. It is important that the committee knows of this support as they make the tough choices about the writing of the farm bill. . The letter is being circulated by Senator Durbin's office.

More than 35 million people in the U.S. struggle to put food on the table, including 12 million children. Securing an adequate diet to meet the basic needs of all Americans should be a top priority for Congress. As Congresss prepares to realthorize the farm bill, this is a critical opportunity to strentghen our national nutrition programs, particularly food stamps.