Hunger and Poverty in the United States

HUNGER AND POVERTY IN THE UNITED STATES -- (House of Representatives - March 18, 2004)

The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. McGovern) is recognized for 5 minutes.

Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, over the past few months I have spoken on this floor on a weekly basis about the scourge of hunger around the world, especially among children. I have talked about the importance of adequately funding the McGovern-Dole Food For Education and Child Nutrition Program, which would provide children around the world with a nutritious school meal.

If we are going to make this world a safer and better place, I strongly believe that we must eradicate hunger. This is something we can do. There are some problems that we cannot solve, but hunger is not one of them.

It is important, however, in any discussion about hunger that we not ignore the problem of hunger that persists right here at home. In the face of world starvation, Americans tend to forget that millions of people in this country continue to go without food every day. Thankfully, we do not have the rampant starvation that affects places like the Horn of Africa, but that does not mean people are not going without food every day right here in the United States.

When we talk about hunger in America, we are really talking about food insecurity. According to the Food Research and Action Center, food insecurity refers to the lack of access to enough food to fully meet basic needs at all times due to lack of financial resources.

According to the United States Department of Agriculture, about 35 million people experienced food insecurity in 2002. This is an increase of 3.9 million people in just 3 years. Of the 12.1 million households that were food insecure in 2002, 3.8 million suffered from such severe food insecurity that they are classified as hungry.

The root cause of most food insecurity and hunger in America is poverty. It is unconscionable that in 2004 there are people in this country who do not have enough money to buy food. Approximately 35 million Americans live in poverty, about the same number of people who were food insecure and hungry. The correlation is obvious. The poorest people in this country are going hungry. The sad reality is that every day there are parents who sacrifice their own food so that their kids can eat.

I recently read a speech by my friend, the late Senator Paul Wellstone, delivered at Iowa State University in 1998. In that speech, Senator Wellstone recalled how he traveled to the Mississippi Delta after reading the book "Let Them Eat Promises" by Nick Kotz, following in the footsteps of Robert Kennedy. Senator Wellstone was so moved by the story about how Robert Kennedy, when touring the country to see firsthand the poverty and hunger that ravaged parts of this Nation, tried to connect with a young boy in the Mississippi Delta. When the boy would not even respond because of his severe malnourishment, Bobby Kennedy just broke down and cried.

Unfortunately, Mr. Speaker, I am afraid that if we left this Capitol building right now and traveled to another part of Washington or another city and town in America, we would find a similar situation. On that July day at Iowa State University, Senator Wellstone asked his audience, "Can't we do better?" Well, Mr. Speaker, the answer is, yes, we can.

During the last several decades, Congress has passed landmark legislation providing nutritious meals for low-income children and families. While the programs created over the last century do not adequately address the problem of poverty in America, they help in part to alleviate the food insecurity caused by poverty. These programs are vitally important and have improved the quality of millions of lives since their adoption.

The school lunch program, the school breakfast program, WIC and food stamps are just a few of the landmark programs that make up the core of our antihunger safety net here in the United States. Many of these programs are up for reauthorization this year, and our colleagues on the Committee on Education and the Workforce, led by the gentleman from Ohio (Chairman Boehner) and the gentleman from California (Ranking Member GEORGE MILLER), have produced a bipartisan bill that reauthorizes and expands many of these programs.

While I am disappointed that this bill, as currently drafted, does not go farther than it does, it is a good bill considering the circumstances under which it was drafted, and I am looking forward to its consideration in the near future.

Mr. Speaker, while these programs are important and need to be reauthorized and expanded, issues I will talk about at a later date, we cannot continue to ignore the fact that poverty is the root cause of food insecurity and hunger here in the
United States.

We have a moral responsibility to end food insecurity and hunger. We have a moral responsibility to end and combat poverty. We can achieve these goals if we have the moral and political courage to do so.

The President recently challenged us to do what is necessary to put a man on Mars. That is a fine goal; but I would submit that a better, more urgent goal is combating hunger and ending poverty. We should begin a new war on poverty.

Let us utilize all that the government and the private sector can do to undertake this challenge. Only then will we end
the scourge of food insecurity and hunger.

END