IV 

109TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. RES. 262

Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the Secretary 

of Agriculture should investigate and find alternative actions with regard 

to the unilateral temporary termination of the participation of retail 

food stores in the electronic benefits transfer system (EBT) under the 

Food Stamp Act of 1977. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 4, 2005

Mr. SCHWARZ of Michigan submitted the following resolution; which was 

referred to the Committee on Agriculture 

RESOLUTION

Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that 

the Secretary of Agriculture should investigate and find 

alternative actions with regard to the unilateral temporary termination of the participation of retail food 

stores in the electronic benefits transfer system (EBT) 

under the Food Stamp Act of 1977.

1 Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Rep2 resentatives that the Secretary of Agriculture, acting 

3 through the Food and Nutrition Service, should inves4 tigate and find alternative actions with regard to the uni5 lateral temporary termination of the participation of retail 
2

•HRES 262 IH 

1 food stores in the electronic benefits transfer system 

2 (EBT) under the Food Stamp Act of 1977, including—

3 (1) providing notification to retail food stores 

4 that participate in the food stamp program, before 

5 unilaterally terminating the operation of EBT in fa6 cilities operated by such stores, 

7 (2) not terminating such operation—

8 (A) on a day immediately preceding a Fed9 eral holiday, or 

10 (B) during the period beginning on Friday 

11 at 4:00 P.M. and ending on Monday at 7:00 

12 A.M., 

13 without valid proof of a fraudulent act committed by 

14 the retail food store involved, 

15 (3) if a retail food store is suspected of commit16 ting a fraudulent act, continuing the operation of 

17 the electronic benefit transfer system for the use of 

18 households participating in the food stamp program 

19 but—

20 (A) temporarily halting repayment to the 

21 retail food store involved until valid proof of the 

22 fraudulent act is verified, 

23 (B) requiring that repayment amounts oth24 erwise payable to such store be temporarily 

25 halted and be deposited in a separate account 
3

•HRES 262 IH 

1 pending a determination of whether there is 

2 valid proof of the fraudulent act by such store, 

3 and 

4 (C) providing to retail food stores that par5 ticipate in the food stamp program, an EBT 

6 emergency hotline that operates 24 hours a day 

7 and 7 days a week, to make available to such 

8 store (and to customers of such store who use 

9 EBT to obtain food) information explaining the 

10 reasons for any unilateral termination of the 

11 operation of EBT in such store, and 

12 (4) if a retail food store is suspected of engag13 ing in a fraudulent act in operating EBT and if no 

14 such fraudulent act is found, requiring the payment 

15 of reasonable compensation to such store for lost 

16 profits resulting from the loss of sales to customers 

17 of such store who would have used EBT to obtain 

18 food if EBT had been operational during the period 

19 of termination.

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