AGRICULTURE, RURAL DEVELOPMENT, FOOD NOTE: Under Committee Rules, Mr. Young, as Chairman of the Full Committee, and Mr. Obey, as Ranking Minority Member of the Full Committee, are authorized to sit as Members of all Subcommittees. MARTIN P. DELGADO, MAUREEN HOLOHAN, LESLIE BARRACK, and JOANNE L. PERDUE, AGRICULTURE, RURAL DEVELOPMENT, FOOD HEARINGS BEFORE A SUBCOMMITTEE OF THE NOTE: Under Committee Rules, Mr. Young, as Chairman of the Full Committee, and Mr. Obey, as Ranking .A628 2004 pt.6 серуг COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS RALPH REGULA, Ohio C. W. BILL YOUNG, Florida, Chairman DAVID R. OBEY, Wisconsin ALAN B. MOLLOHAN, West Virginia PETER J. VISCLOSKY, Indiana JOHN W. OLVER, Massachusetts DAVID E. PRICE, North Carolina CHET EDWARDS, Texas ROBERT E. "BUD" CRAMER, JR., Alabama PATRICK J. KENNEDY, Rhode Island JAMES E. CLYBURN, South Carolina MAURICE D. HINCHEY, New York LUCILLE ROYBAL-ALLARD, California JESSE L. JACKSON, JR., Illinois CHAKA FATTAH, Pennsylvania STEVEN R. ROTHMAN, New Jersey JAMES W. DYER, Clerk and Staff Director (II) LC 3004368804 AGRICULTURE, RURAL DEVELOPMENT, FOOD FOR WEDNESDAY, MARCH 24, 2004. FOOD, NUTRITION, AND CONSUMER SERVICES WITNESSES ERIC M. BOST, UNDER SECRETARY, FOOD, NUTRITION, AND CONSUMER SERVICES KATE COLER, DEPUTY UNDER SECRETARY, FOOD, NUTRITION, AND CONSUMER SERVICES ROBERT SALAZAR, ADMINISTRATOR, FOOD AND NUTRITION SERVICE ERIC HENTGES, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, CENTER FOR NUTRITION POLICY AND PROMOTION: STEPHEN B. DEWHURST, BUDGET OFFICER, DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE OPENING REMARKS Mr. BONILLA. The subcommittee will come to order. I want to say good morning to all and welcome our distinguished panel. We are delighted to have before us today the Food and Nutrition Service represented very ably by Eric Bost, who is the Under Secretary for Food, Nutrition, and Consumer Services. Eric, in a moment I will let you introduce the distinguished members of your panel that you brought with you this morning. The fiscal year 2005 budget request for FNS funding totals over $50 billion. That is nearly 60 percent of the total funding for this entire bill. In your request, three priorities are highlighted for 2005: expanding access to the nutrition assistance programs; obesity prevention and education; and program integrity. The reauthorization for two of your major programs, Child Nutrition and WIC, will be on the House floor today. It is my understanding that this budget request assumes current services for the base Child Nutrition and WIC programs pending reauthorization. The programs we will be discussing today affect the lives of more than one in five Americans: 29 million kids eating school lunches; 24 million people served by the Food Stamp Program; 7.8 million women, infants and children are served through the WIC program every month; and millions more served through the other 12 programs funded through FNS. You are stewards for some very important feeding programs, and we welcome you all and look forward to hearing your testimony today. I know you have many, many success stories that you could share with us if we had all day, which we don't. But I know that you could if we had the opportunity. |