U.S. legislators on $1 meal diet to boost food aid

By Charles Abbott

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - For lunch on Tuesday, Janice Schakowsky spread flakes of tuna on two slices of white bread. Jim McGovern ate a bowl of home-cooked lentils and Jo Ann Emerson's salad was mostly shredded iceberg lettuce.

"I couldn't afford the mayo," said Schakowsky, so she did not make tuna salad. Schakowsky, McGovern and Emerson -- all members of the U.S. House of Representatives -- are on what could be called the Food Stamp diet, spending $1 on food per meal, for a week.

Their spell on "the Food Stamp Challenge" will end on Monday, just before the House Agriculture Committee is expected to begin overhauling U.S. farm law. Food stamps and other public nutrition programs account for two-thirds of the spending governed by the "farm bills" written every few years.

Food stamp benefits are roughly $1 a meal or $3 a day. With that budget, the U.S. representatives said, they found starchy foods are attractively priced and little chance for variety. "I kept taking things out of my (shopping) cart," said Schakowsky, an Illinois Democrat.

"It's amazing how hard it is to buy fruits and vegetables," said Tim Ryan, an Ohio Democrat, who also enrolled in the challenge. With two loaves of bread, Ryan planned to "allocate" 12 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches among his meals.

About 26 million Americans receive food stamps, the major U.S. anti-hunger program that is aimed at helping poor people get enough to eat.

"The point of this is, a lot of people are struggling," said McGovern, a Massachusetts Democrat. "The farm bill is coming and we can do something about it."

McGovern and Emerson, a Missouri Republican, are among sponsors of a House bill to increase funding for public nutrition programs by $20 billion over five years. Provisions include larger food stamp benefits, making it easier to enroll in food stamps and setting the minimum benefit, now $10 a month, at $30.

Ellen Vollenger of the anti-hunger group Food Research and Action Center said the Food Stamp Challenge "is a reality check." Various public officials including state governors and city mayors have used it to get a first-hand taste of food stamp budgeting.

In January, the Bush administration proposed changes that would provide food stamps to about 98,000 elderly and working poor Americans. But activists say 329,000 people who already receive food stamps would have their eligibility reviewed.

In a separate interview, the Republican leader on the House Agriculture Committee, Rep. Bob Goodlatte of Virginia, said the best step would be to expand donations to food pantries and community groups that help people stretch their budgets. Goodlatte said food stamp error rates are too high.