Full Text of HR0858 97th General Assembly
HR0858 97TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY |
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| 1 | | HOUSE RESOLUTION
| 2 | | WHEREAS, No resident of Illinois should have to be | 3 | | food-insecure; and
| 4 | | WHEREAS, 1,873,010, or 1 in 7 residents of the State of | 5 | | Illinois are experiencing food insecurity, meaning they lack | 6 | | access to adequate nutritious food for a healthy lifestyle; and
| 7 | | WHEREAS, 745,310, or just under 1 in 4 children in the | 8 | | State of Illinois are experiencing food insecurity; and
| 9 | | WHEREAS, Food insecurity is experienced in every county in | 10 | | the State of Illinois; and
| 11 | | WHEREAS, Feeding Illinois food banks have seen a 73% | 12 | | increase in requests for emergency food assistance over the | 13 | | past 3 years; and | 14 | | WHEREAS, Hunger increases health care costs, lowers | 15 | | workers' productivity, harms children's development, and | 16 | | diminishes children's educational performance; and
| 17 | | WHEREAS, Fighting hunger is a public-private partnership; | 18 | | in Illinois, a strong private network exists that has provided | 19 | | 1.4 million people in Illinois with more than 127 million |
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| 1 | | pounds of food in 2010; however, private charity cannot do it | 2 | | alone and a strong federal hunger relief safety net is | 3 | | required; 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);
SNAP is the cornerstone of | 15 | | the nutrition safety net, with 1.9 million, or 1 in 6, Illinois | 16 | | residents enrolled in the program; just under half of those | 17 | | utilizing the program are children; and | 18 | | WHEREAS, Any reduction in funding of the SNAP Program will | 19 | | increase the number of food-insecure people in Illinois; and
| 20 | | WHEREAS, Maintaining the current model of 100% federal | 21 | | funding of SNAP assistance is essential to retaining the |
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| 1 | | program's effectiveness in fighting hunger; and
| 2 | | WHEREAS, TEFAP is a means-tested federal program that | 3 | | provides food commodities at no cost to Illinoisans in need of | 4 | | short-term hunger relief through organizations like food | 5 | | banks, pantries, soup kitchens, and emergency shelters; and
| 6 | | WHEREAS, CSFP leverages government buying power to provide | 7 | | nutritious food packages to 17,473 vulnerable individuals in | 8 | | Illinois in Fiscal Year 2011, nearly 97% of which are seniors; | 9 | | and
| 10 | | WHEREAS, The decisions made in developing the next Farm | 11 | | Bill will impact the ability of food-insecure Illinoisans to | 12 | | access the food and nutrition safety they need; and | 13 | | WHEREAS, The City of Chicago, in partnership with the | 14 | | Greater Chicago Food Depository and other anti-hunger | 15 | | advocates, wants to fully support addressing food insecurity in | 16 | | the City of Chicago; therefore, be it
| 17 | | RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE | 18 | | NINETY-SEVENTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that | 19 | | we urge Congress to develop the 2012 Farm Bill with a strong | 20 | | Title IV that protects and strengthens federal food and | 21 | | nutrition programs; and be it further
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| 1 | | RESOLVED, That we state our belief that the 2012 Farm Bill | 2 | | must oppose proposals to cap or reduce funding for SNAP; oppose | 3 | | proposals to restrict eligibility or reduce benefits; support | 4 | | proposals to increase benefit adequacy to ensure that | 5 | | households have the resources to purchase a nutritionally | 6 | | adequate diet; support proposals that would make mandatory | 7 | | funding for TEFAP food more responsive to changes in need; | 8 | | enhance the United States Secretary of Agriculture's authority | 9 | | to purchase bonus commodities in times of high need for | 10 | | emergency food relief in addition to times of low commodity | 11 | | prices; reauthorize funding for TEFAP Storage and Distribution | 12 | | and TEFAP Infrastructure grants; and protect funding for CSFP | 13 | | while transitioning the program to a senior-only program and | 14 | | grandfathering in current participants; and be it further | 15 | | RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be | 16 | | delivered to the members of the Illinois congressional | 17 | | delegation, the President of the United States, and the United | 18 | | States Secretary of Agriculture.
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