Uncovering CRS

In the world of Web friendly information, the Congressional Research Service has all the sophistication of a dusty Windows 95 computer. I was looking for the CRS site to search for a report mentioned in United's Week in Review and found that it was nowhere to be found on the Web. I finally tracked down a Web site that is dedicated to making CRS reports accessible to the public. The site is searchable, and the latest report with reference to fruits and vegetables was published Jan. 24, and the topic was domestic food assistance legislative issues in the 110th Congress.
Here is an excerpt that talks about issues to be taken up this year:

The most significant issues raised are likely to be those surrounding the Food Stamp program and fresh fruit and vegetable projects. .....Given the popularity of and support shown for the existing, limited projects to increase the presence of fresh fruit and vegetables in schools (and efforts to increase federal support for “specialty crops” as part of the overall farm bill), recommendations for expansion and possible restructuring of these initiatives are very likely.

So far, so good.

However, action on most of the food assistance proposals/issues taken up as part of the farm bill will depend heavily on budgetary considerations — specifically, whether any new funding is available and whether spending cuts will be needed.

Again, a catch. This is where the USDA needs to step up and propose significant dollars for expansion of the snack program in their farm outline.


The nutrition title of the 2002 farm bill addressed, for the first time, the availability of fresh fruit and vegetables in schools — because of growing concerns over childhood obesity and the quality and types of foods offered through school meal programs. It established a pilot project under which a small number of schools in a limited number of states and Indian reservations receive funding to offer free fresh fruit and vegetables to students.19 The project was expanded, given mandatory annual funding, and made permanent through the 2004 child nutrition reauthorization law (P.L. 108-265), and further expanded and given added money in P.L. 109-97. In FY2006, about 400 schools in 14 states and 3 Indian reservations received support for this project, supported by funding totaling to $15 million. Separate from the nutrition title, the 2002 farm bill (in Section 10603) required that a minimum of $50 million a year of the amount spent on commodities for schools be used for fresh fruit and vegetables acquired for school meal programs through the Department of Defense “Fresh Program” (“DOD Fresh”).
The 2002 nutrition title also provided statutory authority and mandatory funding (at $15 million a year through FY2007) for a new Seniors Farmers’ Market Nutrition program (SFMNP), under which low-income seniors receive vouchers that they may redeem at farmers’ markets and roadside stands for fresh fruit and vegetables. The SFMNP was set up to give low-income elderly the same help that WIC recipients receive through WIC farmers’ market vouchers (a separate program not subject to farm bill renewal).

Prospective Issues. The fresh fruit and vegetable program set up by the 2002 farm bill has proved popular — for example, both the House and Senate appropriations bills for FY2007 included a significant expansion in funding and the number of states covered — and it is very probable that various proposals for further growth in the program will be advanced for the 2007 farm bill. Recommendations for continuation of and possible added funding for the DOD Fresh set-aside also can be expected; however DOD Fresh is being restructured in a way that will probably de-emphasize procurement of locally produced food items, and Congress may revisit the set-aside to see if alternatives are more desirable. The only proposed change in the SFMNP is likely to be a provision barring the use of SFMNP funds to pay sales taxes, coupled with a rule disregarding the value of SFMNP benefits as financial resources for tax and public assistance purposes. This has been proposed by the Administration, was included in the House and Senate FY2007 appropriations measures, and mirrors what is now done for the WIC farmers’ market program.

It is obvious that the fruit and vegetable program is popular, but it will be no walk in the park to get substantially more funds. If anyone can make the case, it is Lorelei DiSogra and United.