Pat Danner: “often, we hear about the importance of timeliness of legislation. As we discuss today's bill, the Bill Emerson Good…”

“often, we hear about the importance of timeliness of legislation. As we discuss today's bill, the Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Food Donation Act, I will be constantly mindful of the article that appeared only yesterday in the Kansas City Star--my hometown newspaper. The Star carried the article that I have had partially reproduced and which is behind me. For the first time ever, Project Hunger, the annual summer food drive, ran out of supplies while people still waited in line to secure food. This year, the contributions were only one-third of the amount collected last year. Mr. Speaker, this is but a single chapter in a much larger story. The U.S. Conference of Mayors has reported that 18 percent of all requests for food assistance went unmet last year in the Nation's cities. And the Federal Government has estimated that some 14 billion pounds of food are discarded by businesses each year. These incredible figures were troubling for Bill Emerson, they are troubling for me--and I'm confident that other Members of the House will agree that we must act now to address this issue. Mr. Speaker, the Biblical passage from Leviticus reminds us that: ``When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap the corners of your field, and do not glean the fallen ears of your crop * * * you must leave them for the poor and the stranger.'' Bill Emerson, as a student of the Scriptures and a tireless advocate in the war against hunger, brought both life and meaning to that verse.”