WASHINGTON, Nov. 16, 2009 - USDA's Economic Research Service's (ERS) today released its annual report on Household Food Security in the U.S., which revealed that in 2008, 17 million households, or 14.6 percent, were food insecure and families had difficulty putting enough food on the table at times during the year. This is an increase from 13 million households, or 11.1 percent, in 2007. The 2008 figures represent the highest level observed since nationally representative food security surveys were initiated in 1995. The full study is available at www.ers.usda.gov/features/householdfoodsecurity/.
On March 20, 2009, President Obama issued an Executive Branch-wide Memorandum entitled, "Ensuring Responsible Spending of Recovery Act Funds" to foster transparency and facilitate merit-based decision-making in awarding funds.
In the memo, President Obama provided guidance as to how to provide the American people with information regarding lobbyist communications about specific American Recovery and Reinvestment Act projects.
The following is a chronological list of documents detailing USDA's communications with lobbyists. In each, you will find the date of contact, the name of the employee contacted and his or her title, a brief description of the communication's substance, the way in which the contact took place, the name of the lobbyist and his or her title, the lobbyist's firm and client. If communication is written, the written correspondence will be attached to the form.
