Thank you for providing me with the opportunity to testify today. I am Robert Greenstein, executive director of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. The Center is a nonprofit institution here in Washington, D.C. that conducts research and analysis both on fiscal policy matters and on an array of policy issues affecting low- and moderate-income families at both the federal and state levels. We receive no government funding.
Before starting the Center in 1981, I served as the Administrator of the Food and Nutrition Service during the Carter Administration, overseeing the domestic food assistance programs there. I was fortunate during that time to work closely with this Committee and the House Agriculture Committee on the Food Stamp Act of 1977, which grew out of bipartisan legislation designed by Senators Dole and McGovern. This year will mark the 30th anniversary of that historic legislation, which the forthcoming 2007 Farm Bill will reauthorize. We look forward to working with this Committee to extend and strengthen this successful program.
