The Campaign to Protect Children's Nutrition

Corporate profiteers and their backers in Congress want to privatize Food Stamp eligibility determination, which means auctioning off nutrition for needy children, the elderly and disabled to corporate bidding.

Food Stamp privatization results in multibillion dollar contracts for big corporations like IBM, MAXIMUS, Accenture and others. But for millions of needy children, elderly and disabled Americans, it means their next meal could depend on the whims profit-seeking CEOs, not professional, experienced caseworkers whose only motivation is to help those in need.

In July 2007, the U.S. House of Representatives voted for language in the Farm Bill that prevents the Administration from allowing states to bypass the existing prohibition that prevents companies from taking over the process of deciding who is eligible for Food Stamps. Now the Senate must act.

The Food Stamp program has its origins in the 1940s, as many American families struggled to put food on the table due to harsh economic conditions. Enacted into law in the 1960s, the modern Food Stamp program now enables as many as 26 million Americans each month to afford the nutritious food they need for good health.

To guard against corruption, federal law required that only qualified, merit-based civil service employees would determine who was eligible for Food Stamps. But in the mid-1990s, major corporations began lobbying for huge state contracts to take over most of the eligibility determination process for Food Stamp, Medicaid and other public welfare programs.

These efforts failed miserably in Texas. And despite the Texas disaster, Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels seems determined to force his State down the same road. So to protect accountability and the integrity of the Food Stamp program, a coalition of anti-poverty, anti-hunger, women’s, children’s and labor groups created the Campaign to Protect Children’s Nutrition.

The campaign won a provision in the 2007 Farm Bill that bars the administration from allowing states to auction off nutrition for needy Americans to corporations. The House approved the language in August and the Senate will act soon. But big corporations are now doing all they can to strip the Farm Bill of the anti-privatization provisions.

Make your voice heard on this matter and protect those in our country who are greatly in need of the Food Stamp program. Head to www.needovergreed.org and sign the petition. Call or e-mail your congress people. If enough of us speak out, I believe we will be heard.

Hat tip: Left in Aboite
Thanks John for the post!