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. 
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 ‘‘Economic Recovery 
Through Increased Feeding Act of 2009’’. 
SEC. 2. FINGERPRINTING PROHIBITED. 
Section 11(e)(2)(D) of the Food and Nutrition Act 
of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2020(e)(2)(D)) is amended by inserting 
the following before the semicolon at the end: ‘‘, and the 
fingerprint or any other form of biometic testing of any 
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member of a household shall not be required for the pur-
pose of participating in the supplemental nutrition assist-
ance program or for issuance of benefits for which the 
household would otherwise be eligible’’. 
SEC. 3. EXPANDED ELIGIBILITY IN HIGH UNEMPLOYMENT 
AREAS. 
Section 6(o) of the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 
(7 U.S.C. 2015(o)) is amended— 
(1) in paragraph (2) by striking ‘‘3 months’’ 
and inserting ‘‘12 months’’, and 
(2) in paragraph 4(A) by striking ‘‘On the re-
quest of a State agency, the Secretary may’’ and in-
serting ‘‘The Secretary shall’’. 
SEC. 4. PARTICIPATION IN SUPPLEMENTAL NUTRITION AS-
SISTANCE PROGRAM IN CITIES. 
(a) REPORTS.—The Secretary of Agriculture shall— 
(1) require the appropriate States to submit to 
the Secretary reports identifying the levels of partici-
pation in the supplemental nutrition assistance pro-
gram by eligible households located in the 25 largest 
cities in the United States, and 
(2) submit to the Congress a report identifying 
the results contained in the reports required by 
paragraph (1). 
(b) ACTIVITIES TO INCREASE PARTICIPATION.— 
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(1) REQUIREMENT.—If a State submits a re-
port under subsection (a)(1) that identifies a city in 
which the participation rate of eligible households in 
the supplemental nutrition assistance program is 
less than 85 percent, the Secretary of Agriculture 
shall require such State to implement practices to 
increase such participation rate. 
(2) DEFINITION.—The term ‘‘practices’’ means 
telephone interviews, educational public service an-
nouncements, town halls, and other services that the 
State deems fit to increase the participation rate to 
more than 85 percent of eligible households. 
SEC. 5. GRANTS TO IMPROVE ACCESS TO BENEFITS. 
Section 11(t) of the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 
(7 U.S.C. 2020(t)) is amended— 
(1) in paragraph (1) by striking ‘‘$5,000,000’’ 
and inserting ‘‘$15,000,000’’, and 
(2) in paragraph (5)— 
(A) in subparagraph (A) by striking ‘‘and’’ 
at the end, 
(B) in subparagraph (B) by striking the 
period at the end and inserting ‘‘and’’, and 
(C) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(C) shall give special consideration to eli-
gible entities that are nonprofit organizations 
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that provide on site at the locations of such or-
ganizations online application support to eligible 
households.’’. 
SEC. 6. ENCOURAGE BETTER NUTRITION. 
(a) EBT CARD ACCESS AT FARMERS’ MARKETS.— 
The Secretary of Agriculture shall carry out a program 
to support the use of electronic benefits transfers for Fed-
eral nutrition programs at farmers’ markets by means of 
installing or modernizing electronic benefit transfer equip-
ment at such markets and by providing educational fo-
rums on the benefits of nutrition program participation 
at such markets. 
(b) LIMITATIONS.—Funds available to carry out this 
section— 
(1) may not be used for the ongoing cost of car-
rying out any project, and 
(2) shall only be provided to eligible entities 
that demonstrate a plan to continue to provide elec-
tronic benefit transfer card access at 1 or more 
farmers’ markets following the receipt of such funds. 
(c) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 
authorized to be appropriated $25,000,000 to carry out 
this section. 
Æ 
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