Date: 1987-03-05
Speaker: DE LA GARZA (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman. I rise in support of H.R. 558 and ask my colleagues to give their speedy approval to this important measure. The bill is a sound and compassionate response to one of the real tragedies of the 1980shomelessness. The bill. for the most. part. provides authorizations for a wide variety of programs to assist homeless people.The actual spending. beginning in fiscal year 1988. will be voted on later and will depend on the availability of funds after Congress completes Its work on the fiscal year 1988 budget resolution. I would note also that the bill does not create new Government bureaucracies. rather. It is designed to .target existing programs to the special needs of the homeless. I compliment my colleagues on the other committees that have worked on this bill for the innovative and responsible approaches they have selected to attack this deepening problem.. I am pleased to note that the rule on the bill has incorporated into H.R. 558. as title V. the text of H.R. 177. as reported by the Committee on Agriculture. H.R. 177--title Vwas ordered reported by the Committee on Agriculture by voice vote without dissent. It will make several administrative changes in the Food Stamp Program. and extend the TEFAP law. to ensure that appropriate nutrition assistance is made available to homeless persons. TEFAP is an acronym for the Temporary Emergency Food Assistance Program. and it provides for the orderly and efficient distribution of surplus Commodity Credit Corporation commodities. such as cheese. butter. and flour. to charitable institutions. such -as soup kitchens and food banks. The program is scheduled to expire at the end of this fiscal year. and the bill will extend it for 3 years and authorize appropriations to cover State administrative costs involved in distributing the surplus commodities. Homeless people are prime beneficiaries of TEFAP assistance. and with homelessness an increasingly serious national problem. the extension made by the bill is appropriate. The bill also provides for a procedure to ensure adequate distribution of surplus cheese under TEFAP. This provision is neededbecause of situations in the past when States. under current TEFAP procedures. have run out of cheese to meet the needs of destitute people. Plentiful amounts of surplus cheese are available. it is just a matter of revising application procedures under the program to ensure that the cheese goes where it is needed. The bill effectively responds to that problem. I note that the rule on H.R. 558 has provided for inclusion of a technical amendment to the surplus cheese portion of the bill. This amendment is designed toavoid an indirect violation of the Budget Act. I have conferred with members of the Agriculture Committee. and we have no objection to the inclusion of this provision to resolve .this Budget Act problem. The major. food stamp provisions of the bill will help meet the current food needs of homeless people. and help prevent the growth of homelessness in the future. Specifically. the bill will authorize State food stamp agencies to conduct outreach programs targeted to the homeless. and authorize Federal funding of onehalf the costs of such programs. It will increase the cap on the excess shelter cost deduction under the Food Stamp Program. effective October 1. 1987. In computing household income to determine eligibility and benefit levels under the program. a deduction is allowed to take into account the cost of housing that exceeds 50 percent of net household income. The bill will increase the cap on the excess shelter cost deduction for the 48 contiguous States by 8.3 percentto $168 a monthwith comparable increases for Alaska. Hawaii. Guam. and the Virgin Islands. This will enable needy families in areas where housing is costly to supplement their food budget without sacrificing their housing budget. Title V will exclude from household income. for purposes of determining food stamp eligibility and benefits. the following: third party payments for temporary housing. if the housing lacks meal preparation facilities. This will address the problem of homeless persons temporarily living in welfare hotels losing their food stamp benefits under an eligibility rule that otherwise counts third party payments as income. Also. it will make savings in the food stamp program to partially offset any increased Food Stamp Program costs under the bill. byFirst. imposing a new lossofbenefits penalty on food stamp recipients who willfully or fraudulently underreport income. and Second. delayinguntil October 1. 1987a scheduled July 1. 1987. upward adjustment in the food stamp income standards of eligibility to reflect increases in the poverty guideline and similarly changing the schedule for future adjustments. Our committees provisions require no increase in deficit spending in fiscal year 1987. and spending in later years would be subject to the budget and appropriation processes. I believe we can find the money for future years and not increase the deficit. but that will be our task later this year. Mr. Speaker. homelessness is a social tragedy that is demeaning to all of us who are privileged to live in this great Nation. We must help those among us without homes and without hope. Mr. Chairman. this is a first step toward providing help. It is responsible and balanced legislation. I urge its adoption by the House today. I would urge my colleagues to understand that homelessness and hunger are not urban phenomenons. They also occur in rural America. perhaps not as noticeably due to the sense of family that pervades small communities or to our ability to reach out to those unfortunate ones in part because of the smaller numbers involved than in the urban areas. But the fact remains that it is a national problem. it is a problem that must be addressed. Mr. Chairman. I laud the leadership for its initiative and its sensitivity on this issue. I would urge my colleagues to support this legislation and not to adopt any amendments that might be detrimental to the thrust of the bill. Then. we continue after that very good first step. we must address the rest of the problemthe root causes and the base causes of what leads eventually to homelessness and hungry people. So it is a very good first step. I would urge my colleagues to assist us in giving it a strong vote of approval this afternoon. Mr. Chairman. the chairman of the subcommittee which deals with this area in our Committee on Agriculture is our distinguished colleague from California . I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from California .