I 
111TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1869 
To require the President to call a White House Conference on Food and 
Nutrition. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
APRIL 2, 2009 
Mr. MCGOVERN (for himself and Mrs. EMERSON) introduced the following bill; 
which was referred to the Committee on Agriculture 
A BILL 
To require the President to call a White House Conference 
on Food and Nutrition. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘The White House Con-
ference on Food and Nutrition’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
The Congress finds the following: 
(1) Hunger and undernutrition are political 
conditions that can be solved. 
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(2) Access to healthy food and good nutrition 
should be a fundamental right of all Americans. 
(3) Nearly 40 years have passed since the 
United States convened a White House conference to 
comprehensively address the issues of food, hunger, 
health, and nutrition in America. 
(4) More than 35,500,000 Americans live in 
households that face a constant struggle against 
hunger, 12,600,000 of whom are children and 
5,000,000 of whom are seniors, the disabled, and the 
critically ill. 
(5) 
The 
Government 
spends 
more 
than 
$55,000,000,000 every year responding to the con-
current epidemics of hunger and undernutrition, yet 
the number of Americans facing hunger continues to 
grow and our Nation’s nutritional health is declin-
ing. 
(6) Conservative cost estimates show that the 
true cost of hunger and illness related to undernutri-
tion in America is at least $90,000,000,000 a year, 
more than half of which is paid by Medicare and 
Medicaid. 
(7) Appropriate food and nutrition can save the 
United States billions of dollars in health care costs 
by preventing or delaying the progression to late- 
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stage disease for tens of millions of Americans who 
live with chronic diseases, such as diabetes, HIV, 
AIDS, and heart disease. The costs of the effects 
and treatments of those diseases are significantly ex-
acerbated by hunger, food insecurity, and under-
nutrition. 
(8) A national discussion of the root causes of 
hunger, food insecurity, and undernutrition, as well 
as identification of solutions to these epidemics, can 
lead to action to implement such solutions and to 
end hunger in America. 
SEC. 3. AUTHORIZATION OF THE CONFERENCE. 
(a) AUTHORITY TO CALL CONFERENCE.—Not later 
than December 31, 2010, the President shall call the 
White House Conference on Food and Nutrition (in this 
Act referred to as the ‘‘Conference’’) to be convened not 
later than 18 months after the selection of the Policy Com-
mittee established in section 4, in order to make funda-
mental policy recommendations on ways to end hunger 
and to improve nutrition in the United States and to im-
plement the purposes set forth in subsection (c). 
(b) PLANNING AND DIRECTION.—The Secretary of 
Health and Human Services, the Secretary of Agriculture, 
and the Secretary of the Treasury (in this Act referred 
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to as the ‘‘Cochairs’’) shall plan, conduct, and convene the 
Conference, in consultation with the Surgeon General. 
(c) PURPOSES OF THE CONFERENCE.—The purposes 
of the Conference are to— 
(1) identify viable solutions for ending hunger 
in the United States; 
(2) review the current structure, scope, and ef-
fectiveness of existing legislation and programs at 
the Federal, State, and local levels that provide for 
the nutritional needs of food-insecure people living in 
the United States; 
(3) determine the extent to which current Fed-
eral, State, and local programs that provide for the 
nutritional health of Americans can better use avail-
able resources and ensure greater coordination 
among such programs; 
(4) identify new ways to utilize the abundant 
agricultural resources of the United States to meet 
the nutritional needs of all Americans; 
(5) highlight emerging and innovative programs 
from the public and private sectors, including com-
munity-based and faith-based organizations that ef-
fectively address the nutrition needs of vulnerable 
Americans and recommend such programs as can be 
reasonably and cost-effectively replicated; 
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(6) identify opportunities for effective partner-
ships between the Government, industry, labor, 
healthcare, and the nonprofit sectors to fight hunger 
in the United States; 
(7) explore the possibility of creating a Federal 
office within the Department of Agriculture to over-
see the Nation’s response to persistent and wide-
spread hunger and food insecurity, to include the 
oversight and coordination of all Federal, State, and 
local antihunger programs; 
(8) bring public attention to the more than 
35,500,000 people living in the United States that 
face a constant struggle against hunger, food insecu-
rity, and inadequate nutrition; 
(9) illustrate the medical, developmental, and 
educational impact of hunger, food insecurity, and 
inadequate nutrition, and the potential savings to 
the United States health care system, educational 
system, and other sectors when appropriate food is 
available to the critically and chronically ill; 
(10) build understanding of the true cost of 
hunger in the United States, to include lost wages, 
diminished stamina, reduced capacity to learn, and 
the impact of despair; and 
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(11) build understanding that the ever-bur-
geoning dual epidemic of hunger and undernutrition 
is a matter of national security. 
SEC. 4. POLICY COMMITTEE; RELATED COMMITTEES. 
(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—Not later than June 30, 
2009, there is established a Policy Committee comprising 
of 17 members to be selected as follows: 
(1) PRESIDENTIAL
APPOINTEES.—Nine mem-
bers shall be selected by the President and shall in-
clude— 
(A) 3 members who are officers or employ-
ees of the United States, including the Surgeon 
General; and 
(B) 6 members with experience in address-
ing the needs of food-insecure and undernour-
ished people in the United States. 
(2) HOUSE APPOINTEES.— 
(A) Two members shall be selected by the 
Speaker of the House of Representatives after 
consultation with the chairperson of the Com-
mittee on Education and Labor, the chair-
person of the Committee on Ways and Means, 
and the chairperson of the Committee on Agri-
culture, of the House of Representatives. 
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