Reply #25: Well, if you are looking for the facts and details of this minus the RW talking points, here you go: [View All]

[rvablue]

UPDATE: Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack just issued a statement referring to the $100 million available to the states for The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP) through the stimulus bill. TEFAP, he said, "acquires food that is distributed to local organizations that assist the needy – including food banks, food pantries, and soup kitchens."

Said Vilsack: "The Recovery Act funds referenced in press reports allowed states to purchase ham, cheese and dairy products for these food banks, soup kitchens and food pantries that provide assistance to people who otherwise do not have access to food. This program will help reduce hunger of those hardest hit by the current economic recession. The references to '2 pound frozen ham sliced' are to the sizes of the packaging. Press reports suggesting that the Recovery Act spent $1.191 million to buy “2 pounds of ham” are wrong. In fact, the contract in question purchased 760,000 pounds of ham for $1.191m, at a cost of approximately $1.50 per pound. In terms of the dairy purchase referenced, USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA) purchased 837,936 pounds of mozzarella cheese and 4,039,200 pounds of processed cheese."

Vilsack said that the "principal purpose of these expenditures is to provide food to those hardest hit by these tough times" though they also offer "a modest economic benefit of benefiting Americans working at food retailers, manufacturers and transportation companies as well as the farmers and ranchers who produce our food supply.”

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2009/07/gopers-criticize-food-items-in-recoverygov-.html


Satisfied. If you believed that much was being spent on a single ham, maybe you're just remembering some very creative budgeting coming out of the Pentagon during the REAGAN YEARS.

This is money that is going to help feed the hungry since many food banks have lost a lot of donations due to the recession.

The purchase and shipping of the food will also help certain DOMESTIC COMPANIES and will hopefully help to save some jobs, too.