Food Recovery Act Takes Food Waste Problem to Congress
Congresswoman Chelli Pingree’s Food Recovery Act aims to tackle food waste in the U.S.
Congresswoman Chelli Pingree’s Food Recovery Act aims to tackle food waste in the U.S.
Congress left DC for the winter break without agreeing on a Farm Bill. Color me unsurprised.
Cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), also known as Food Stamps, are coming this Friday.
The House cut Food Stamps by $40 billion yesterday when they passed the Nutrition Reform and Work Opportunity Act of 2013 (H.R. 3012). The 109 page bill includes a number of requirements for new projects, reports to be written about those projects, and committees to review those projects, plus the budget necessary to do those things. The cost-cutting mostly occurs in one place – “categorical eligibility”.
We’ve been treading water in a pool of political juices for awhile, so I apologize for stirring the legislative pot, but food policy has become a political topic. And now we have a tool to help us decide which levers to pull. A new organization, Food Policy Action (FPA), seeks to keep us in-the-know on how well our national government representatives support (or fail to support) important food policy decisions.
Representative Steve King of Iowa introduced an amendment to the House version of the Farm Bill which would nullify California’s humane egg production law and the more recent foie gras bill.
Amendment 45 uses the Commerce Clause to deny states the right to regulate agriculture production and sales within their own borders.
Credit programs are of vital importance to beginning farmers and historically disadvantaged farmers.
Since the news that Congress is spending nearly a million dollars a year on bottled water, a petition was started to stop this and it was delivered on Tuesday with 65,000 signatures – 50,000 of which were obtained by change.org. it’s not too late to tell Congress you want to eliminate bottled water purchases from the budget. The more people that sign – the more impact it has.
Once again the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act passed the House of Representatives. That makes three times through the House and twice through the Senate. Now it goes to President Obama’s desk for signing into law.
The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act passed the House 264-157. Next step, the White House.
The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act stalled in the House of Representatives on Wednesday. Opponents of the bill added a requirement that child care workers submit to background checks. It seems a reasonable enough demand – screening child care workers is important to ensure the safety of children, although I thought background checks on child care …
The FDA Food Safety Modernization Act (S.510) passed the Senate yesterday 73-25. The House passed their version this past summer. What now?
The Improving Nutrition for America’s Children Act (H.R. 5504) has been delayed. The House of Representatives was set to vote on it this week, before the House recessed on October 8, but they skipped out early.