William L. Clay: “I rise to oppose the provisions in the Personal Responsibility Act which contains a food assistance block grant. The…”

“I rise to oppose the provisions in the Personal Responsibility Act which contains a food assistance block grant. The child nutrition provisions in the Personal Responsibility Act will completely eliminate the National School Lunch Program as it has existed since 1946. The Personal Responsibility Act would combine a set of Federal food assistance programs--including food stamps, school lunch, school breakfast, the WIC Program, elderly nutrition, and the Emergency Food Assistance Program [TEFAP] into a single block grant to States, with a reduction in overall funding for the programs. The House Republican Conference has estimated that the 4-year reduction in funding as compared with current law would be $11 billion. Probably a more accurate reduction is $17.5 billion as projected by the center on budget and policy priorities. There are many reasons why I oppose the block grant method for the distribution of funds: Historically, when Federal funds have been left to the discretion of a few, they have not been distributed to the most impoverished or the ones in need the most.”