I 
111TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 2297 
To require the President to call a White House Conference on Food and 
Nutrition. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MAY 7, 2009 
Mr. MCGOVERN (for himself and Mrs. EMERSON) introduced the following bill; 
which was referred to the Committee on Agriculture, and in addition to 
the Committee on Rules, for a period to be subsequently determined by 
the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall with-
in the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 
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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