The Emergency Food Assistance Program and Emergency Feeding Needs Page: 7 of 20
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CRS-4
the Agriculture Department's discretion. The dollar value of these commodities was
much larger than what is now provided under the program. The value of bonus foods
ranged from a high of slightly more than $1 billion in FY1984 to a low of $537 million
in FY1988. In addition, Congress typically appropriated $50 million a year for grants
to assist with distribution costs.
Beginning with FY1989, the value of discretionary bonus foods dropped
substantially as federal acquisitions/stocks waned, and the majority of the
commodities made available for TEFAP came to be made up of commodities
purchased specifically for the program. From FY1989 through FY1994, commodity
purchases ranged from $119 million (FY1994) to $160 million (FY1989 and
FY1993), while annual value of bonus commodities went from a high of $135 million
(FY1989) to a low of $48 million in FY1994. Appropriations for distribution-cost
grants dropped somewhat during this period, to $40 million by FY1994. Federal
support was lowest in FY1995 and FY1996 - commodity purchases were $65
million and $49 million; bonus foods were valued at $35 million and $14 million; and
distribution-cost grants totaled $40 million and $31 million.
Since FY1996, federal support (spurred by enactment of the set-aside of Food
Stamp Act funds for TEFAP) has grown noticeably, but it has not returned to the
levels reached in the 1980s or early 1990s. Commodity purchases went to $130
million in FY1997 and $100 million in FYI 998, but dropped to $90 million in FY1999
and then increased to $99 million in FY2000. The value of bonus commodity
acquisitions increased to $30 million in FY1997, $109 million in FY1998, $107
million in FY1999, and $162 million in FY2000. And spending for distribution-cost
grants was $42 million in FY1997, $46 million in FY1998 and FY1999, and $44
million in FY2000.5
Table 1 provides details on federal support for TEFAP over the years, including
the amounts included in the FY2001 Agriculture appropriations law, P.L. 106-387.
Current Status of Federal Support
FY1999. For FY1999, the Clinton Administration proposed using the full $100
million provided under the Food Stamp Act to fund TEFAP commodity purchases,
plus a $45 million appropriation for distribution-cost grants; no additional
appropriations were proposed for food purchases. Congress, however, chose to
provide less than requested. The House version of the FY1999 Agriculture
Department appropriations measure reduced the $100 million Food Stamp Act
TEFAP "entitlement" to $90 million, and the Senate version lowered it to $80 million;
both appropriated the full $45 million requested for distribution costs (still below the
authorized $50 million).
5These figures for distribution-cost grants are actual expenditures from amounts made
available under annual appropriations. They differ slightly from the appropriations
themselves (e.g., the distribution-cost appropriation for FY1998, FY1999, and FY2000 was
$45 million a year) because they reflect the reallocation of unspent money and transfers of
distribution-cost funds to the purchase of commodities.
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Richardson, Joe & Porter, Donna V. The Emergency Food Assistance Program and Emergency Feeding Needs, report, August 24, 2001; Washington D.C.. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc805887/m1/7/?rotate=270: accessed April 25, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.