ACT FOR HUNGRY FAMILIES PASSES SENATE, GOES TO HOUSE
ACTION:
Call your two Representatives and ask them to vote YES on ESB 6411, without amendments. Call your senator and THANK them for their vote on ESB 6411 (the bill passed the Senate 44-0). You can call the legislative hotline at (800)562-6000, or see the links below for contact information for your legislators.
BACKGROUND:
Food is the expendable item in a poor family’s budget. After rent, utilities, gasoline, car payments and insurance, and medical bills, three meals a day all too often take a back seat.
Beginning in the 1930s and into the 1940s, when Franklin Roosevelt articulated his Four Freedoms, including the freedom from want, America made a commitment, if not always perfectly executed, to feed the less fortunate. When the nutrition programs under the Older Americans Act were created in 1972, authorizing special food programs for the elderly, it was Richard Nixon who pushed for more funding. Throughout the 1970s few Americans would have disputed the idea that the federal government had a major role to play in feeding the hungry. But then came the Reagan Revolution, followed by the cuts mandated by Clinton’s welfare reform. As government support for food security dwindle, private and municipal emergency food programs, such as food banks, try to take up the slack. Such programs are now entrenched in nearly every city and town in the nation. But they just aren’t enough. Our nation’s food security continues to erode, and children, families, the elderly, and public safety are at risk.
Against this bleak national backdrop, Washington has the unacceptable distinction of being one of the five hungriest states in America in each of the last eight years.
The Act for Hungry Families has the potential to reverse this trend and bring Washington into the forefront of states that provide for their citizens, rather than bringing up the rear.
The bill would provide an enormous nutritional benefit for an extremely modest cost. It will actually bring millions of Federal dollars INTO Washington’s ailing economy. The bill passed out of the Senate 44-0. Despite this overwhelming vote, ESB 6411 still may face an uphill climb in the House.
For Washington’s children, Washington’s families, Washington’s elderly, Washington’s security and Washington’s honor, please urge your Representatives to pass this very important bill.
Please drop me a line to let me know if you have responded to this alert. I would also appreciate knowing of any responses you get from your Representatives. Thanks to everyone who has responded to previous alerts.
Sincerely,
Eve Rickert
FCWPP Lobbyist
If you can, identify yourself as a Friend (Quaker) when contacting legislators in response to these Alerts. It helps us in our work in Olympia.
Contact your FCWPP Lobbying Team, Eve Rickert and Alan Mountjoy-Venning at stellamom”at”pobox.com (please insert the @ symbol – publishing e-mail addresses in public websites exacerbates spam problems) or by calling 360 754-3290.
Contact information for your senators can be found at http://www.leg.wa.gov/senate/members/default.htm. Contact informationfor representatives is at http://www.leg.wa.gov/house/default.htm