II 

109TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3761 

To amend the Agriculture and Consumer Protection Act of 1973 to assist 

the neediest of senior citizens by modifying the eligibility criteria for 

supplemental foods provided under the commodity supplemental food 

program to take into account the extraordinarily high out-of-pocket medical expenses that senior citizens pay, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 28 (legislative day, JULY 26), 2006 

Ms. STABENOW (for herself, Mr. DOMENICI, Mr. JOHNSON, and Mr. DURBIN) 

introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the 

Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry 

A BILL 

To amend the Agriculture and Consumer Protection Act 

of 1973 to assist the neediest of senior citizens by modifying the eligibility criteria for supplemental foods provided under the commodity supplemental food program 

to take into account the extraordinarily high out-of-pocket medical expenses that senior citizens pay, 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, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Senior Nutrition Act 

3 of 2006’’. 

4 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

5 Congress finds that— 

6 (1) senior citizens in the United States have 

7 significant out-of-pocket costs for medical expenses, 

8 especially for prescription drugs; 

9 (2) as medical costs continue to rise, many sen10 ior citizens are forced to make the difficult choice 

11 between purchasing prescription drugs and pur12 chasing food; 

13 (3) the commodity supplemental food program 

14 provides supplemental nutritious foods to senior citi15 zens in a number of States and localities; 

16 (4) under the commodity supplemental food 

17 program— 

18 (A) women, infants, and children with 

19 household incomes up to 185 percent of the 

20 Federal Poverty Income Guidelines published 

21 annually by the Department of Health and 

22 Human Services may be eligible for supple23 mental foods; but 

24 (B) senior citizens are ineligible for supple25 mental foods if their household incomes are 


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1 greater than 130 percent of the Federal Pov2 erty Income Guidelines; 

3 (5) during fiscal year 2005— 

4 (A) an average of 522,592 people each 

5 month participated in the commodity supple6 mental food program; and 

7 (B) the majority of those participants, 

8 466,782, were senior citizens; and 

9 (6) in order to serve the neediest senior citi10 zens, taking into account their high out-of-pocket 

11 medical (including prescription drug) expenses, the 

12 eligibility requirements for the commodity supple13 mental food program should be modified to make 

14 more senior citizens eligible for the supplemental 

15 foods provided under the program. 

16 SEC. 3. ELIGIBILITY OF ELDERLY PERSONS UNDER THE 

17 COMMODITY SUPPLEMENTAL FOOD PRO18 GRAM. 

19 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 5 of the Agriculture and 

20 Consumer Protection Act of 1973 (7 U.S.C. 612c note; 

21 Public Law 93–86) is amended— 

22 (1) in the first sentence of subsection (d)(2)— 

23 (A) by striking ‘‘provide not less’’ and in24 serting ‘‘provide, to the Secretary of Agri25 culture, not less’’; 


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1 (B) by inserting ‘‘, or such greater quan2 tities of cheese and nonfat dry milk as the Sec3 retary determines are necessary,’’ after ‘‘nonfat 

4 dry milk’’; and 

5 (C) by striking ‘‘in each of the fiscal years 

6 1991 through 2007 to the Secretary of Agri7 culture’’ and inserting ‘‘in each fiscal year’’; 

8 (2) in subsection (i)— 

9 (A) by redesignating paragraphs (1), (2), 

10 and (3) as subparagraphs (A), (B), and (C), re11 spectively, and indenting appropriately; and 

12 (B) by striking ‘‘(i) Each’’ and inserting 

13 the following: 

14 ‘‘(i) PROGRAMS SERVING ELDERLY PERSONS.— 

15 ‘‘(1) ELIGIBILITY.—An elderly person shall be 

16 eligible to participate in a commodity supplemental 

17 food program serving elderly persons if the elderly 

18 person is at least 60 years of age and— 

19 ‘‘(A) is eligible for food stamp benefits 

20 under the Food Stamp Act of 1977 (7 U.S.C. 

21 2011 et seq.); or 

22 ‘‘(B) has a household income that is less 

23 than or equal to 185 percent of the most recent 

24 Federal Poverty Income Guidelines published by 

25 the Department of Health and Human Services. 


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1 ‘‘(2) PROVISION OF INFORMATION.—Each’’; 

2 and 

3 (3) by adding at the end the following: 

4 ‘‘(m) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 

5 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—There is authorized to be 

6 appropriated such sums as are necessary to carry 

7 out the commodity supplemental food program. 

8 ‘‘(2) LIMITATION ON USE OF FUNDS.—None of 

9 the funds made available under paragraph (1) shall 

10 be available to reimburse the Commodity Credit Cor11 poration for commodities donated to the commodity 

12 supplemental food program.’’. 

13 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—Section 5(g) of 

14 the Agriculture and Consumer Protection Act of 1973 (7 

15 U.S.C. 612c note; Public Law 93–86) is amended by strik16 ing ‘‘(as defined by the Secretary)’’ and inserting ‘‘de17 scribed in subsection (i)(1)’’. 

Æ 


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