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1 | SENATE RESOLUTION
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2 | WHEREAS, No resident of Illinois should have to be food | ||||||
3 | insecure; and
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4 | WHEREAS, 1,873,010, or one in 7, of the residents of the | ||||||
5 | State of Illinois are experiencing food insecurity meaning they | ||||||
6 | lack access to adequate nutritious food for a healthy life | ||||||
7 | style; and
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8 | WHEREAS, 745,310, or just under one in 4, of the children | ||||||
9 | in the State of Illinois are experiencing food insecurity; and
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10 | WHEREAS, Food insecurity is experienced in every county in | ||||||
11 | the State of Illinois; and
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12 | WHEREAS, Feeding Illinois food banks have seen a 73% | ||||||
13 | increase in requests for emergency food assistance over the | ||||||
14 | past 3 years; and | ||||||
15 | WHEREAS, Hunger increases health care costs, lowers | ||||||
16 | workers' productivity, and harms children's development and | ||||||
17 | diminishes their educational performance; and | ||||||
18 | WHEREAS, Fighting hunger is a public-private partnership, | ||||||
19 | and Illinois has a strong private network that has provided 1.4 |
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1 | million people in the State with more than 127 million pounds | ||||||
2 | of food in 2010, but private charity cannot do it alone, | ||||||
3 | Illinois needs a strong federal hunger relief safety net; and | ||||||
4 | WHEREAS, The Illinois General Assembly established the | ||||||
5 | Commission to End Hunger in 2010 in recognition of the need to | ||||||
6 | end food insecurity in the State of Illinois; and | ||||||
7 | WHEREAS, The Commission to End Hunger acknowledges in its | ||||||
8 | recommendations the critical importance of federal programs | ||||||
9 | that address food and nutrition; and | ||||||
10 | WHEREAS, The federal Farm Bill establishes the funding and | ||||||
11 | policy for vital food and nutrition programs such as the | ||||||
12 | Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), The | ||||||
13 | Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP), and the Commodity | ||||||
14 | Supplemental Food Program (CSFP); and | ||||||
15 | WHEREAS, SNAP is the cornerstone of the nutrition safety | ||||||
16 | net, with 1.9 million, or one in 6, Illinois residents enrolled | ||||||
17 | in the program and just under half of those utilizing the | ||||||
18 | program are children; and | ||||||
19 | WHEREAS, Any reduction in funding to the SNAP Program will | ||||||
20 | increase the number of food insecure people in Illinois; and |
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1 | WHEREAS, Maintaining the current model of 100% federal | ||||||
2 | funding of SNAP assistance is essential to retaining the | ||||||
3 | program's effectiveness in fighting hunger; and | ||||||
4 | WHEREAS, TEFAP is a means-tested federal program that | ||||||
5 | provides food commodities at no cost to Illinoisans in need of | ||||||
6 | short-term hunger relief through organizations like food | ||||||
7 | banks, pantries, soup kitchens, and emergency shelters; and | ||||||
8 | WHEREAS, CSFP leverages government buying power to provide | ||||||
9 | nutritious food packages to 17,473 vulnerable individuals in | ||||||
10 | Illinois in State Fiscal Year 2011, nearly 97% of whom are | ||||||
11 | seniors; and
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12 | WHEREAS, The decisions made in developing the next Farm | ||||||
13 | Bill will impact the ability of food insecure Illinoisans to | ||||||
14 | access the food and nutrition safety; therefore, be it
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15 | RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE NINETY-SEVENTH GENERAL | ||||||
16 | ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we urge Congress to | ||||||
17 | develop a Farm Bill with a strong Title IV that protects and | ||||||
18 | strengthens federal food and nutrition programs; and be it | ||||||
19 | further
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20 | RESOLVED, That we believe the 2012 Farm Bill must: |
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1 | (1) Oppose proposals to cap or reduce funding for SNAP, | ||||||
2 | restrict eligibility, or reduce benefits, and instead | ||||||
3 | support proposals to increase benefit adequacy to ensure | ||||||
4 | that households have the resources to purchase a | ||||||
5 | nutritionally adequate diet; and | ||||||
6 | (2) Support proposals that would make mandatory | ||||||
7 | funding for TEFAP food more responsive to changes in need; | ||||||
8 | and | ||||||
9 | (3) Enhance the Secretary of Agriculture's authority | ||||||
10 | to purchase bonus commodities in times of high need for | ||||||
11 | emergency food relief in addition to times of low commodity | ||||||
12 | prices; and | ||||||
13 | (4) Reauthorize funding for TEFAP Storage and | ||||||
14 | Distribution and TEFAP Infrastructure grants; and | ||||||
15 | (5) Protect funding for CSFP while transitioning the | ||||||
16 | program to a senior-only program and grandfathering in | ||||||
17 | current participants; and be it further
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18 | RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be | ||||||
19 | delivered to the members of the Illinois Congressional | ||||||
20 | delegation, the President of the United States, and the United | ||||||
21 | States Secretary of Agriculture.
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