I 

111TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 6539 

To amend the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 to promote nutrition, to 

increase access to food, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

DECEMBER 16, 2010 

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 promote 

nutrition, to increase access to food, 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 ‘‘Reducing American 

5 Hunger Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. DISCOUNT PURCHASE OF PRODUCE. 

7 (a) AMENDMENT.—The Food and Nutrition Act of 

8 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2011 et seq.) is amended— 

9 (1) in the last sentence of section 4(a) by in10 serting ‘‘(increased by an amount equal to 100 permstockstill on DSKH9S0YB1PROD with BILLS

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1 cent of benefits used to purchase produce)’’ after 

2 ‘‘value’’, and 

3 (2) in section 7(b) by inserting ‘‘, but at 50 

4 percent of the prevailing prices for produce pur5 chased in such stores’’ after ‘‘stores’’. 

6 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

7 subsection (a) shall take effect on the 1st day of the 1st 

8 month that begins more than 180 days after the date of 

9 the enactment of this Act. 

10 SEC. 3. FINGERPRINTING PROHIBITED. 

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

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

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

14 fingerprint or any other form of biometic testing of any 

15 member of a household shall not be required for the pur16 pose of participating in the supplemental nutrition assist17 ance program or for issuance of benefits for which the 

18 household would otherwise be eligible’’. 

19 SEC. 4. EXPANDED ELIGIBILITY IN HIGH UNEMPLOYMENT 

20 AREAS. 

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

22 (7 U.S.C. 2015(o)) is amended— 

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

24 and inserting ‘‘12 months’’, and 

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1 (2) in paragraph 4(A) by striking ‘‘On the re2 quest of a State agency, the Secretary may’’ and in3 serting ‘‘The Secretary shall’’. 

4 SEC. 5. PARTICIPATION IN SUPPLEMENTAL NUTRITION AS5 SISTANCE PROGRAM IN CITIES. 

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

7 (1) require the appropriate States to submit to 

8 the Secretary reports identifying the levels of partici9 pation in the supplemental nutrition assistance pro10 gram by eligible households located in the 25 largest 

11 cities in the United States, and 

12 (2) submit to the Congress a report identifying 

13 the results contained in the reports required by 

14 paragraph (1). 

15 (b) ACTIVITIES TO INCREASE PARTICIPATION.— 

16 (1) REQUIREMENT.—If a State submits a re17 port under subsection (a)(1) that identifies a city in 

18 which the participation rate of eligible households in 

19 the supplemental nutrition assistance program is 

20 less than 85 percent, the Secretary of Agriculture 

21 shall require such State to implement practices to 

22 increase such participation rate. 

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

24 telephone interviews, educational public service an25 nouncements, town halls, and other services that the 

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1 State deems fit to increase the participation rate to 

2 more than 85 percent of eligible households. 

3 SEC. 6. GRANTS TO IMPROVE ACCESS TO BENEFITS. 

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

5 (7 U.S.C. 2020(t)) is amended— 

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

7 and inserting ‘‘$15,000,000’’, and 

8 (2) in paragraph (5)— 

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

10 at the end, 

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

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

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

14 ‘‘(C) shall give special consideration to eli15 gible entities that are nonprofit organizations 

16 that provide on site at the locations of such or17 ganizations online application support to eligible 

18 households.’’. 

19 SEC. 7. ENCOURAGE BETTER NUTRITION. 

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

21 The Secretary of Agriculture shall carry out a program 

22 to support the use of electronic benefits transfers for Fed23 eral nutrition programs at farmers’ markets by means of 

24 installing or modernizing electronic benefit transfer equip25 ment at such markets and by providing educational fomstockstill on DSKH9S0YB1PROD with BILLS

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1 rums on the benefits of nutrition program participation 

2 at such markets. 

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

4 section— 

5 (1) may not be used for the ongoing cost of car6 rying out any project, and 

7 (2) shall only be provided to eligible entities 

8 that demonstrate a plan to continue to provide elec9 tronic benefit transfer card access at 1 or more 

10 farmers’ markets following the receipt of such funds. 

11 (c) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 

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

13 this section. 

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