{
  "id": "RL33102",
  "type": "CRS Report",
  "typeId": "REPORTS",
  "number": "RL33102",
  "active": false,
  "source": "EveryCRSReport.com, University of North Texas Libraries Government Documents Department",
  "versions": [
    {
      "source": "EveryCRSReport.com",
      "id": 312775,
      "date": "2006-02-23",
      "retrieved": "2016-04-07T19:11:40.690029",
      "title": "Federal Food Assistance in Disasters: Hurricanes Katrina and Rita",
      "summary": "The Food Stamp program, child nutrition programs, and federally donated food commodities\ndelivered through relief organizations provide major support in disasters like Hurricanes Katrina and\nRita. Existing laws authorize the Agriculture Department to change eligibility and benefit rules to\nfacilitate emergency aid, and, in the short term, funding and federally provided food commodities\nare available without the need for additional appropriations.\n With regard to the Katrina and Rita hurricanes, numerous food assistance program rules were\nwaived -- e.g., granting one to three months of food stamp benefits to affected households,\nauthorizing free school meals to affected children, and greatly easing eligibility documentation\nrequirements.\n However, Congress faced a number of issues with regard to the longer term -- e.g., who should\npay for extra administrative costs, whether to extend the application of disaster rules beyond one to\nthree months, costs associated with replenishing commodity stocks used to help hurricane victims,\nadditional funding for the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and\nChildren (the WIC program) in affected areas, how to deal with those made temporarily eligible (like\nsome noncitizens normally barred from participation in food stamps), and whether to increase normal\nbenefits and further loosen eligibility rules for those affected.\n Several bills were introduced in response to the hurricanes ( S. 1695  and\n H.R. 3809  were the most prominent). They were intended to expand on the steps\nalready taken by the Administration. For example, they would have lengthened the period during\nwhich disaster rules apply, further eased eligibility and benefit rules for food stamps, and mandated\nextra money to support the distribution of food commodities and the WIC program.  But in the\nend, no significant action was taken, other than (1) small one-time increases in\nappropriations (totaling to $10 million) to replenish some commodity stocks used for hurricane-relief\npurposes and pay for commodity distribution costs, and (2) a $120 million transfer of funding from\nfood stamp appropriations to support extra child nutrition costs.\n This version is the final report on food assistance related to the 2005 hurricanes, and will not\nbe updated.",
      "type": "CRS Report",
      "typeId": "REPORTS",
      "active": false,
      "formats": [
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          "url": "http://www.crs.gov/Reports/pdf/RL33102",
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      ],
      "topics": []
    },
    {
      "source": "University of North Texas Libraries Government Documents Department",
      "sourceLink": "https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metacrs8906/",
      "id": "RL33102_2005Sep23",
      "date": "2005-09-23",
      "retrieved": "2006-07-03T14:59:37",
      "title": "Federal Food Assistance in Disasters: Hurricanes Katrina and Rita",
      "summary": "This report discusses federal food assistance in response to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. The Food Stamp program, child nutrition programs, the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (the WIC program), and federally donated food commodities delivered through relief organizations provide major support in disasters like Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Existing laws authorize the Agriculture Department to change eligibility and benefit rules to facilitate emergency aid, and, in the short term, funding and federally provided food commodities are available without the need for additional appropriations.",
      "type": "CRS Report",
      "typeId": "REPORT",
      "active": false,
      "formats": [
        {
          "format": "PDF",
          "filename": "files/20050923_RL33102_5ef201adf6e231aeee3ef25840f313d56549be0c.pdf"
        },
        {
          "format": "HTML",
          "filename": "files/20050923_RL33102_5ef201adf6e231aeee3ef25840f313d56549be0c.html"
        }
      ],
      "topics": [
        {
          "source": "LIV",
          "id": "Food",
          "name": "Food"
        },
        {
          "source": "LIV",
          "id": "Hurricane Rita (2005)",
          "name": "Hurricane Rita (2005)"
        },
        {
          "source": "LIV",
          "id": "Food relief",
          "name": "Food relief"
        },
        {
          "source": "LIV",
          "id": "Hurricane Katrina (2005)",
          "name": "Hurricane Katrina (2005)"
        },
        {
          "source": "LIV",
          "id": "Emergency management",
          "name": "Emergency management"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "topics": [
    "Appropriations"
  ]
}