On May 22nd, the nutrition title of the Farm Bill became law when the Senate followed the House's May 21st action in overriding President Bush's veto of H.R. 2419. After Congress returns from the Memorial Day recess in June, lawmakers will address the status of the trade title, which is not in force, and any other procedural questions, either by passing a new Farm Bill that includes the trade title or by passing a stand-alone trade title. The trade title had mistakenly been omitted from the copy of the bill sent to the President. "'Fourteen of the 15 titles in this farm bill are now the law of the land,' [Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Tom] Harkin said, while Agriculture ranking member Saxby Chambliss added, 'Nothing will change that.'" See "Senate Plans to Pass Farm Bill Again To Enact Missing Title," by Jerry Hagstrom with Christian Bourge contributing, National Journal's Congress Daily, 5/23/08.

In Focus: Farm Bill Veto Overriden

Use 1-800-826-9624 to Thank Members of Congress for Passing the Farm Bill and Voting to Override the President's Veto: Call Members of Congress via the toll-free line 1-800-826-9624. (The toll-free line is made available by AARP). Thank them for passing the Farm Bill with nutrition title investments and for overriding the President's veto.

Roll Call Votes: To find out how your Representatives and Senators voted, check thomas.loc.gov for House Roll Call 346 (http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2008/roll346.xml) and Senate Vote 140 (http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=110&session=2&vote=00140).

Highlights: The $10.361 billion in new ten-year funding for the nutrition title provides for Food Stamp Program improvements, including for the first increase in the minimum benefit in 30 years (to about $15 and then indexing it); for increasing to $144 and then indexing the standard deduction for households of three or fewer; for uncapping the dependent care deduction; and for indexing asset limits and excluding retirement and education savings accounts from them. The nutrition title provides $1.256 billion to increase and index commodity purchases for TEFAP; $1.020 billion for the fruit and vegetable snack program; $50 million for Community Food Projects; $50 million for Senior Farmers Markets; and $4 million for a six-state pilot for whole grain cereal foods for school breakfast and lunch. The nutrition title extends simplified reporting options to elderly food stamp clients; allows states to provide transitional food stamp benefits for those leaving state-funded cash programs; and gives states the option of a telephonic signature. The nutrition title also renames the Food Stamp Program the "Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program" (SNAP); bars splitting monthly food stamp allotments; authorizes the Congressional Hunger Center's fellows programs; allows preferences for locally produced food purchasing; and allows infrastructure and transportation grants for rural food bank delivery of perishable foods. The Farm Bill's horticulture title includes investments to bring Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) capacity to more farmers' markets.