Letter to Members of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, and Related Agencies on preserving and strengthening nutrition, forest, and farm programs
NOTE: A similar letter was sent to members of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration and Related Agencies
April 3, 2006
Members of the Senate Appropriations Committee
Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development,
and Related Agencies
United States Senate
Washington, D.C. 20510
Dear Senator:
I am writing on behalf of the 1.4 million members of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) to urge you to preserve and strengthen the vital nutrition, forest, and farm programs under your Subcommittee's jurisdiction. These programs constitute an important safety net for millions of working and struggling families, and provide state and local governments with critically important funding. Specifically, we urge you to:
- Reject the Administration's proposal to cut $54 million in funding for the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self Determination Act and instead fully fund this program which pays states to conserve public lands. Thirty-eight states, 4,400 school districts and 780 counties depend on these payments to fund their school systems, public safety, road maintenance and other job creation opportunities to mitigate the economic effects of reduced timber cutting on endangered public lands. AFSCME urges you to maintain the FY 2006 funding level so that forest counties are not forced to close schools and suffer other severe economic consequences due to decreased timber harvesting.
- Appropriate $5.388 billion for the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) in order to serve 8.2 million participants. This funding level is $188 million above the President's request and is absolutely critical to maintain current and anticipated WIC participation levels, avoid participant cuts, and respond to food cost inflation, according to recent analyses by the National WIC Association. AFSCME also urges the Subcommittee to maintain the $125 million WIC contingency fund. We strongly oppose the Bush Administration's proposal to cap nutrition services funding at 25 percent. This arbitrary limitation on spending flexibility would seriously erode benefits and services for participants as states are unlikely to be able to further reduce per participant costs for this efficient and effective program. AFSCME also strongly opposes the Administration's recommendation to impose a new 20 percent state match for WIC nutrition services. Such an erosion of the federal commitment to WIC could result in more than 1.5 million mothers and children losing WIC nutrition services.
- Protect the Commodity Supplemental Food Program (CSFP) by rejecting the President's proposal to eliminate funding. Currently, nearly one-half million low-income seniors, mothers and young children rely on this program for nutritious food packages that supplement their diets. Seniors constitute approximately 90 percent of participants. Elimination of this program would result in 470,000 monthly participants losing these food staples. AFSCME joins with the Food Research Action Center and other anti-hunger advocates in urging continued and full funding for CSFP.
The programs we have highlighted under the Subcommittee's jurisdiction are wide-ranging. Some provide needed food for seniors, mothers and young children; another ensures that states and counties are fairly compensated for lost revenues from preserving public lands. We urge your serious consideration of our funding requests for these vital programs and thank you for your continued leadership.
Sincerely,
Charles M. Loveless
Director of Legislation
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