[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1021 Introduced in House (IH)]
108th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 1021
To amend the Agriculture and Consumer Protection Act of 1973 to assist
the neediest of senior citizens by modifying the eligibility criteria
for supplemental foods provided under the commodity supplemental food
program to take into account the extraordinarily high out-of-pocket
medical expenses that senior citizens pay, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
February 27, 2003
Ms. Loretta Sanchez of California (for herself, Mr. Abercrombie, Mr.
Berman, Mr. Cummings, Mrs. Emerson, Mr. Frost, Mr. Hinchey, Mr. Inslee,
Ms. Jackson-Lee of Texas, Ms. Eddie Bernice Johnson of Texas, Ms.
Kaptur, Mr. Kildee, Ms. Kilpatrick, Mr. Larson of Connecticut, Mr.
Levin, Mr. Lipinski, Ms. Lofgren, Mr. McNulty, Mr. Payne, Mr. Sherman,
Ms. Watson, and Mr. Udall of Colorado) introduced the following bill;
which was referred to the Committee on Agriculture
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To amend the Agriculture and Consumer Protection Act of 1973 to assist
the neediest of senior citizens by modifying the eligibility criteria
for supplemental foods provided under the commodity supplemental food
program to take into account the extraordinarily high out-of-pocket
medical expenses that senior citizens pay, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Senior Nutrition Act of 2003''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds that--
(1) senior citizens in the United States have significant
out-of-pocket costs for medical expenses, especially for
prescription drugs;
(2) 3 in 5 Medicare beneficiaries do not have dependable,
affordable, prescription drug coverage;
(3) as medical costs continue to rise, many senior citizens
are forced to make the difficult choice between purchasing
prescription drugs and purchasing food;
(4) the commodity supplemental food program provides
supplemental nutritious foods to senior citizens in a number of
States and localities;
(5) under the commodity supplemental food program--
(A) women, infants, and children with household
incomes up to 185 percent of the Federal Poverty Income
Guidelines published annually by the Department of
Health and Human Services may be eligible for
supplemental foods; but
(B) senior citizens are ineligible for supplemental
foods if their household incomes are greater than 130
percent of the Federal Poverty Income Guidelines;
(6) during fiscal year 2000--
(A) an average of more than 388,000 people each
month participated in the commodity supplemental food
program; and
(B) the majority of those participants, 293,000,
were senior citizens; and
(7) in order to serve the neediest senior citizens, taking
into account their high out-of-pocket medical (including
prescription drug) expenses, the eligibility requirements for
the commodity supplemental food program should be modified to
make more senior citizens eligible for the supplemental foods
provided under the program.
SEC. 3. ELIGIBILITY OF ELDERLY PERSONS UNDER THE COMMODITY SUPPLEMENTAL
FOOD PROGRAM.
(a) In General.--Section 5 of the Agriculture and Consumer
Protection Act of 1973 (7 U.S.C. 612c note; Public Law 93-86) is
amended--
(1) in the first sentence of subsection (d)(2)--
(A) by striking ``provide not less'' and inserting
``provide, to the Secretary of Agriculture, not less'';
and
(B) by inserting ``, or such greater quantities of
cheese and nonfat dry milk as the Secretary determines
are necessary,'' after ``nonfat dry milk''; and
(2) in subsection (i)--
(A) by redesignating paragraphs (1), (2), and (3)
as subparagraphs (A), (B), and (C), respectively, and
indenting appropriately; and
(B) by striking ``(i) Each'' and inserting the
following:
``(i) Programs Serving Elderly Persons.--
``(1) Eligibility.--An elderly person shall be eligible to
participate in a commodity supplemental food program serving
elderly persons if the elderly person is at least 60 years of
age and--
``(A) is eligible for food stamp benefits under the
Food Stamp Act of 1977 (7 U.S.C. 2011 et seq.); or
``(B) has a household income that is less than or
equal to 185 percent of the most recent Federal Poverty
Income Guidelines published by the Department of Health
and Human Services.
``(2) Provision of information.--Each''.
(b) Conforming Amendments.--
(1) Section 5(a) of the Agriculture and Consumer Protection
Act of 1973 (7 U.S.C. 612c note; Public Law 93-86) is amended
by striking ``Secretary (1) may'' and all that follows through
``(2) shall'' and inserting ``Secretary shall''.
(2) Section 5(g) of the Agriculture and Consumer Protection
Act of 1973 (7 U.S.C. 612c note; Public Law 93-86) is amended
by striking ``(as defined by the Secretary)'' and inserting
``described in subsection (i)(1)''.
<all>
Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Referred to the House Committee on Agriculture.
Referred to the Subcommittee on Department Operations, Oversight, Nutrition and Forestry.
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