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Congressional Record United States Th of America PROCEEDINGS and DEBATES of the 113 CONGRESS, FIRST SESSION

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Congressional Record United States Th of America PROCEEDINGS and DEBATES of the 113 CONGRESS, FIRST SESSION E PL UR UM IB N U U S Congressional Record United States th of America PROCEEDINGS AND DEBATES OF THE 113 CONGRESS, FIRST SESSION Vol. 159 WASHINGTON, MONDAY, APRIL 15, 2013 No. 50 House of Representatives The House met at noon and was hunger among Americans over the age banks to prioritize and target hunger called to order by the Speaker pro tem- of 50 increased by nearly 80 percent—80 among seniors. AmpleHarvest.org is pore (Mr. HOLDING). percent. That is unconscionable. working with seniors to grow their own f One reason for this significant rise in food. And of course, there is Meals on senior hunger is the economy. The re- Wheels, which delivers food directly to DESIGNATION OF SPEAKER PRO cession has made hunger in America homebound seniors. TEMPORE worse for everyone, and it’s been par- A recent Brown University report The SPEAKER pro tempore laid be- ticularly bad among people between found that for every additional $25 a fore the House the following commu- the ages of 50 and 59, a population too State spends on Meals on Wheels each nication from the Speaker: young for Social Security and Medi- year for a person over 65, the low-care WASHINGTON, DC, care, but too old for programs that tar- nursing home population decreases by 1 April 15, 2013. get families with children. And it’s not percent. That helps save Medicaid dol- I hereby appoint the Honorable GEORGE E. just the very poor. In fact, between 2007 lars and lowers health care costs over- B. HOLDING to act as Speaker pro tempore on and 2009, the most dramatic increase in all. this day. hunger was among those whose annual In fact, the cost of feeding a senior JOHN A. BOEHNER, incomes were twice the poverty line. for 1 year through Meals on Wheels is Speaker of the House of Representatives. Food—good, healthy food—is impor- roughly equal to the cost of just 1 day f tant at all ages, but it is critical for in the hospital. And the average pa- MORNING-HOUR DEBATE young children and for senior citizens. tient stays in the hospital for almost 5 For kids, nutritious food is critical for days. Funding for Meals on Wheels is The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursu- physical and mental development. For an important investment to decreasing ant to the order of the House of Janu- seniors, good, healthy food is critical health care spending. ary 3, 2013, the Chair will now recog- for entirely different, but no less im- I also want to highlight the Senior nize Members from lists submitted by portant, reasons. Farmers’ Market Nutrition Program, the majority and minority leaders for Hunger can exacerbate existing med- which helps more than 860,000 seniors morning-hour debate. ical conditions, and many medications who make less than $15,000 per year to The Chair will alternate recognition need to be taken with food. Taking have access to local fresh fruits and between the parties, with each party some medicine on an empty stomach vegetables at farmers markets. A limited to 1 hour and each Member can result in illness or hospitalization, qualified senior is awarded between $20 other than the majority and minority problems that not only result in in- and $50 to spend at their local farmers leaders and the minority whip limited creased medical costs, but can also be markets. Over 19,000 farmers partici- to 5 minutes each, but in no event shall deadly to people with reduced immune pate and benefit from the money sen- debate continue beyond 1:50 p.m. systems. iors spend through this program. f A common problem is that many sen- Wholesome Wave is an organization iors are homebound, unable to travel to that doubles the purchasing power of SENIOR HUNGER IN AMERICA grocery schools or food banks to get the Senior Farmers’ Market Nutrition The SPEAKER pro tempore. The food. A homebound senior can be a for- Program. Its Double Value Coupon pro- Chair recognizes the gentleman from gotten senior. It’s easy to see why sen- gram operates at more than 300 farm- Massachusetts (Mr. MCGOVERN) for 5 ior hunger is a hidden problem. In ers markets in 26 States and the Dis- minutes. many cases, the hungry senior is lit- trict of Columbia. Boston Mayor Tom Mr. MCGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, for erally hidden away behind a closed Menino has a similar program called the past 2 months, I have been speak- door. the Boston Bounty Bucks. These pro- ing each week about hunger in Amer- That’s why it is so important to have grams allow low-income seniors on ica. Today, I want to focus on hunger senior advocacy groups like AARP, the fixed incomes to buy more fresh fruits among our senior citizens, which is a National Council on Aging, and and vegetables with their limited silent scourge in our Nation. AmpleHarvest.org—to name a few— funds. Over 49 million Americans are hun- who focus on senior hunger. AARP has Mr. Speaker, these are terrific pro- gry; and of those, 8.3 million are sen- its Drive to End Hunger campaign with grams, but they simply can’t do it all. iors. That’s one in seven seniors and NASCAR and Jeff Gordon. The Na- In the case of senior hunger, we need to nearly 15 percent of everyone over 60 tional Council on Aging is working make sure that groups like Meals on years old. In fact, from 2001 to 2009, with Feeding America and other food Wheels and programs like Senior b This symbol represents the time of day during the House proceedings, e.g., b 1407 is 2:07 p.m. Matter set in this typeface indicates words inserted or appended, rather than spoken, by a Member of the House on the floor. H1995 . VerDate Mar 15 2010 03:38 Apr 16, 2013 Jkt 029060 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 7634 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\A15AP7.000 H15APPT1 smartinez on DSK6TPTVN1PROD with HOUSE H1996 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — HOUSE April 15, 2013 Farmers’ Market Nutrition Program wise, how much food would be lost on taking food out of the mouths of sen- are well funded. But we also need to an annual basis with chained CPI as it iors in the future that you’re fixing the work with doctors and nurses, with eats away at the annual adjustments problem for full funding of Social Secu- Medicare and Medicaid, and with other and the things that she purchases go up rity beyond 2033. You’re not. That’s a health care professionals to treat hun- faster and faster. lie. Admit what you’re doing. You want ger as a health issue. We need to pre- b 1210 to cut benefits to seniors, to veterans vent costly hospital readmissions that and other working Americans with this are preventable with proper nutrition. Each shopping cart represents a chained CPI artifice. weekly food budget of $53. That’s not We need to ensure that seniors aren’t f falling through the cracks and that exactly living high on the hog here. At they aren’t going hungry. 65, she loses 2 weeks of food. And a RECESS Mr. Speaker, we need Presidential woman retiring at age 65 this year has The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursu- leadership to End Hunger Now, and we a life expectancy of 20 years. That ant to clause 12(a) of rule I, the Chair need a White House conference on food means at age 85, with this new device, declares the House in recess until 2 and nutrition to talk about senior hun- the chained CPI, she would lose 16 p.m. today. ger; to brainstorm, plan, and execute a weeks worth of her food budget. That’s Accordingly (at 12 o’clock and 13 national antihunger plan that will 16 weeks. minutes p.m.), the House stood in re- truly end hunger now. Everybody, as they get older, works cess. through their savings and other means We are the most prosperous Nation in f the world. There is absolutely no rea- of support. And if you live too long, son why anyone should go hungry in you’re going to have a really hard time b 1400 making ends meet. If we chain the CPI, the United States of America. It is es- AFTER RECESS pecially shameful that so many older it will get even harder for the next gen- people, people who have made this eration of seniors. The recess having expired, the House country great, find themselves in a po- There’s kind of a mixed message was called to order by the Speaker pro sition where they are hungry. We can here. Republicans want to cut entitle- tempore (Mr. WENSTRUP) at 2 p.m. do something about it. I hope we come ments. They never supported Social Se- f curity and Medicare, but they just together, and I hope we end hunger PRAYER now. want to cut them to make sure they’re there in the future. Well, If you chain The Chaplain, the Reverend Patrick f the CPI, Social Security, which is sup- J. Conroy, offered the following prayer: CHAINED CPI posed to have adequate benefits to pay Almighty God of the universe, we The SPEAKER pro tempore. The full guaranteed benefits until 2033, give You thanks for giving us another Chair recognizes the gentleman from would pick up 2 years. So we cut bene- day. We thank You that You give us a Oregon (Mr. DEFAZIO) for 5 minutes.
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