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To amend the Food Stamp Act of 1977 to permit participating households to use food stamp benefits to purchase nutritional supplements of vitamins, minerals, or vitamins and minerals.
H. R. 5219 To amend the Food Stamp Act of 1977 to permit participating households to use food stamp benefits to purchase nutritional supplements of vitamins, minerals, or vitamins and minerals.
Summary
This bill amends the Food Stamp Act of 1977 to permit participating households to use their food stamp benefits to purchase nutritional supplements containing vitamins, minerals, or both. The bill finds that many Americans, particularly the elderly, pregnant women, and children in low-income families, do not meet recommended dietary allowances for vitamins and minerals through diet alone. The amendment expands eligible food purchases under the food stamp program to include vitamin and mineral supplements in addition to traditional food products.
AI-generated plain-language summary of the bill text — neutral, and may be imperfect. See the full text below for the exact wording.
Sponsor (1)
- Rep. Emerson, Bill [R-MO-8] (R-MO)
2 cosponsors
Actions (5)
- Oct 17, 1994 Executive Comment Requested from USDA. · house
- Oct 17, 1994 Referred to the Subcommittee on Department Operations and Nutrition. · house
- Oct 6, 1994 Referred to the House Committee on Agriculture. · house
- Oct 6, 1994 Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR E2146-2147)
- Oct 6, 1994 Introduced in House
More bills on these subjects (8)
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Similar bills (6)
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Full text
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
October 6, 1994
Mr. Emerson introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Agriculture
A BILL
To amend the Food Stamp Act of 1977 to permit participating households to use food stamp benefits to purchase nutritional supplements of vitamins, minerals, or vitamins and minerals.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. FINDINGS.
The Congress finds the following:
(1) The dietary patterns of Americans do not result in nutrient intakes that fully meet Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDAs) of vitamins and minerals.
(2) The elderly often fail to achieve adequate nutrient intakes from diet alone.
(3) Pregnant women have particularly high nutrient needs, which they often fail to meet through dietary means alone.
(4) Many scientific studies have shown that nutritional supplements contain folic acid (a B vitamin) can prevent a large proportion (as many as 70 to 80 percent) of neural tube birth defects and the Public Health Service, in September 1992, recommended that “all women of childbearing age in the United States who are capable of becoming pregnant should consume 0.4 mg of folic acid per day for the purpose of reducing their risk of having a pregnancy affected with spina bifida or other neural tube birth defects.”
(5) Infants who fail to receive adequate intakes of iron may be somewhat impaired in their mental and behavioral development.
(6) Children in low-income families often fail to achieve nutritional goals from diet alone.
(7) A massive volume of evidence strongly suggests that increasing intake of specific nutrients over an extended period of time may be helpful in protecting against diseases or conditions such as osteoporosis, cataracts, cancer, and heart disease.
SEC. 2. AMENDMENT.
Section 3(g)(1) of the Food Stamp Act of 1977 (7 U.S.C. 2012(g)(1)) is amended by striking “or food product” and inserting “food product, or nutritional supplements of vitamins, minerals, or vitamins and minerals.” <all>
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