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“CONGRESSIONAL BLACK CAUCUS: HUNGER IN AMERICA” mentioning the U.S. Dept of Agriculture was published in the Extensions of Remarks section on pages E1703 on Nov. 19, 2013.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
CONGRESSIONAL BLACK CAUCUS: HUNGER IN AMERICA
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speech of
HON. JOYCE BEATTY
of ohio
in the house of representatives
Monday, November 18, 2013
Mrs. BEATTY. Mr. Speaker, as we begin to enter the holiday season, let us reflect on the devastating impact of hunger on individuals, families, and communities.
Mr. Speaker--hunger is no holiday for millions of Americans.
50 million individuals in this country are food insecure and 17 million of them are children.
Making sure children are well fed is necessary if America is to reach its health, education, economic, and fiscal goals.
In 2011, 679,900 children in Ohio lived in food insecure households.
On Nov. 1, the largest cuts in the history of our country's food stamp program, now called the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, went into effect when the increase given by the 2009 economic stimulus package expired.
This reduction, which totaled $5 billion, has already touched more than 47 million people--1 in 7 Americans.
Moreover, billions more in cuts are scheduled to occur in the following two years, despite the fact that food insecurity in America has not even begun to return to pre-recession levels.
Mr. Speaker, we are in a hunger crisis.
When almost 50 million people in the richest country on the planet hungry, that is a crisis.
Moreover, food insecurity can have wide-ranging detrimental consequences on individual's physical and mental health, especially with the more vulnerable populations such as pregnant women and seniors.
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, more than 1 in 6 Ohio households faced food insecurity from 2010 to 2012, up 6.3 percentage points from a decade earlier.
Ohio trailed only Missouri and Nevada in hunger increases during that same time.
Ohioans have been left to cope with loss of employment, wage stagnation, slow economic recovery, and food insecurity.
Ohioans are hurting.
Shellie, a mother in my district expressed to me that by the end of every month, she has to tell her kids that all they have left to eat is enough food for dinner.
There is nothing left in the pantry to put on the table for breakfast or lunch.
Then there is Roberta, who was a county caseworker in my district for 25 years and a school board member for ten years, and suffered a serious and sudden illness.
Now, because of medical bills, she and her family rely on food stamps and food pantries.
Another touching example is Saundra in my district, who is disabled and lost her job during the recession.
Food stamps are her only recourse for food.
There are thousands of stories like Shellie's, Roberta's, and Saundra's throughout our country.
We must let our constituents know that we hear their struggles and we are fighting for them.
Preventing irrational cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is a great first step to curbing hunger.
The large $40 billion cuts in the House version of the 2013 Farm Bill are unprecedented.
SNAP should remain a part of the farm bill and I urge anyone who believes hunger and food insecurity should end to make sure that it does.
This is a practical and moral imperative.
I will continue to support the American people through their daily fight to preserve funding for these initiatives and to end hunger in America.
I thank you for the opportunity to speak on this important issue.
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