I 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 596 

To amend the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 to reduce hunger, and 

for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 15, 2009 

Mr. WEINER introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Agriculture 

A BILL 

To amend the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 to reduce 

hunger, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Economic Recovery 

5 Through Increased Feeding Act of 2009’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINGERPRINTING PROHIBITED. 

7 Section 11(e)(2)(D) of the Food and Nutrition Act 

8 of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2020(e)(2)(D)) is amended by inserting 

9 the following before the semicolon at the end: ‘‘, and the 

10 fingerprint or any other form of biometic testing of any 


wwoods2 on PRODPC68 with BILLS
2 

•HR 596 IH

1 member of a household shall not be required for the pur2 pose of participating in the supplemental nutrition assist3 ance program or for issuance of benefits for which the 

4 household would otherwise be eligible’’. 

5 SEC. 3. EXPANDED ELIGIBILITY IN HIGH UNEMPLOYMENT 

6 AREAS. 

7 Section 6(o) of the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 

8 (7 U.S.C. 2015(o)) is amended— 

9 (1) in paragraph (2) by striking ‘‘3 months’’ 

10 and inserting ‘‘12 months’’, and 

11 (2) in paragraph 4(A) by striking ‘‘On the re12 quest of a State agency, the Secretary may’’ and in13 serting ‘‘The Secretary shall’’. 

14 SEC. 4. PARTICIPATION IN SUPPLEMENTAL NUTRITION AS15 SISTANCE PROGRAM IN CITIES. 

16 (a) REPORTS.—The Secretary of Agriculture shall— 

17 (1) require the appropriate States to submit to 

18 the Secretary reports identifying the levels of partici19 pation in the supplemental nutrition assistance pro20 gram by eligible households located in the 25 largest 

21 cities in the United States, and 

22 (2) submit to the Congress a report identifying 

23 the results contained in the reports required by 

24 paragraph (1). 

25 (b) ACTIVITIES TO INCREASE PARTICIPATION.— 


wwoods2 on PRODPC68 with BILLS
3 

•HR 596 IH

1 (1) REQUIREMENT.—If a State submits a re2 port under subsection (a)(1) that identifies a city in 

3 which the participation rate of eligible households in 

4 the supplemental nutrition assistance program is 

5 less than 85 percent, the Secretary of Agriculture 

6 shall require such State to implement practices to 

7 increase such participation rate. 

8 (2) DEFINITION.—The term ‘‘practices’’ means 

9 telephone interviews, educational public service an10 nouncements, town halls, and other services that the 

11 State deems fit to increase the participation rate to 

12 more than 85 percent of eligible households. 

13 SEC. 5. GRANTS TO IMPROVE ACCESS TO BENEFITS. 

14 Section 11(t) of the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 

15 (7 U.S.C. 2020(t)) is amended— 

16 (1) in paragraph (1) by striking ‘‘$5,000,000’’ 

17 and inserting ‘‘$15,000,000’’, and 

18 (2) in paragraph (5)— 

19 (A) in subparagraph (A) by striking ‘‘and’’ 

20 at the end, 

21 (B) in subparagraph (B) by striking the 

22 period at the end and inserting ‘‘and’’, and 

23 (C) by adding at the end the following: 

24 ‘‘(C) shall give special consideration to eli25 gible entities that are nonprofit organizations 


wwoods2 on PRODPC68 with BILLS
4 

•HR 596 IH

1 that provide on site at the locations of such or2 ganizations online application support to eligible 

3 households.’’. 

4 SEC. 6. ENCOURAGE BETTER NUTRITION. 

5 (a) EBT CARD ACCESS AT FARMERS’ MARKETS.— 

6 The Secretary of Agriculture shall carry out a program 

7 to support the use of electronic benefits transfers for Fed8 eral nutrition programs at farmers’ markets by means of 

9 installing or modernizing electronic benefit transfer equip10 ment at such markets and by providing educational fo11 rums on the benefits of nutrition program participation 

12 at such markets. 

13 (b) LIMITATIONS.—Funds available to carry out this 

14 section— 

15 (1) may not be used for the ongoing cost of car16 rying out any project, and 

17 (2) shall only be provided to eligible entities 

18 that demonstrate a plan to continue to provide elec19 tronic benefit transfer card access at 1 or more 

20 farmers’ markets following the receipt of such funds. 

21 (c) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 

22 authorized to be appropriated $25,000,000 to carry out 

23 this section. 

Æ 


wwoods2 on PRODPC68 with BILLS