and food stamp expansion for four years. The four year period established a cycle that ensured the next three farm bills appeared on the congressional agenda after presidential elections, and thereby preventing them from becoming entangled in election-year politics. The Food and Agriculture Act of 1977 continued the market-oriented loan and target-pricing policies of its predecessor. Title XIV of the Act confirmed the USDA's historic role in agricultural research under the National Agricultural Research, Extension, and Teaching Policy Act. The bill also made major modifications to food stamps and solidified the program as a part of the Farm Bill. Additionally in 1977, as a result of Senate committee reorganization and in recognition of the Agriculture Committee's increased role in addressing hunger and nutrition, growing spending for federally-supported child nutrition (which rose from $2.4 billion to more than $8 billion during the decade), and increase of staff size (rising from seven in 1971 to 32 in 1980), the Committee's name was changed to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry. This was the first change to the Committee's name since adding “Forestry” in 1884. In 1968, Talmadge faced the first of his three Republican challengers for his Senate seat. E. Earl Patton (1927–2011), later a member of the Georgia State Senate, received 256,796 votes (22.5 percent) to Talmadge's 885,103 (77.3 percent). Patton, a real estate developer, was the first Republican in Georgia to run for the U.S. Senate since the Reconstruction era, when most Republicans had been African-American freedmen. He was a sign of the shifting white electorate in the South, where white suburbanites moved into the Republican Party. Talmadge ran a disciplined office, requiring his staff to respond to every constituent letter within 24 hours of receipt. In 1969, Talmadge hired Curtis Lee Atkinson onto his senate staff as an administrative aide, making Atkinson the first African-American hired to work on a Southern senator's personal staff since the Reconstruction Era. In early 1973, Talmadge was appointed to the Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities (better known as the United States Senate Watergate Committee) which investigated the activities of members of the Nixon administration. He served on the committee until its final report was issued in June 1974. Talmadge's service on the committee is generally considered the high-water mark of his time as a U.S. Senator. Denunciation Late in his Senate career, Talmadge became embroiled in a financial scandal. After an