House Hunger Caucus

Floor Speech

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Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, later this morning, I will be joined by my Republican colleague Congresswoman Lynn Jenkins of Kansas at D.C. Central Kitchen to officially relaunch the House Hunger Caucus.

I couldn't be happier that we are continuing this important bipartisan caucus in the 114th Congress. I am thrilled to have her partnership in this caucus, and I look forward to working with her.

Mr. Speaker, several years ago, my good friend and former Republican colleague from Missouri Jo Ann Emerson and I founded the House Hunger Caucus as a forum for Members to discuss, advance, engage, and work on issues related to domestic and international hunger and food insecurity.

Over the years, the House Hunger Caucus has hosted a number of briefings on topics ranging from introductions to the major domestic and international hunger programs, to food deserts in rural and urban America, to global agriculture and farmer-to-farmer initiatives, to international school feeding and child nutrition programs, just to name a few.

The caucus doesn't just look at existing programs. It also gets involved in emergency responses as they are unfolding. In 2011, during one of the worst droughts in recent memory, the House Hunger Caucus held timely briefings on the U.S. response to the famine in the Horn of Africa. Members and staff were able to hear directly from those on the ground providing assistance to deal with this unprecedented crisis.

One of the most important objectives of the House Hunger Caucus is to foster better communication among antihunger advocates by bringing together stakeholders from Federal agencies, State and local governments, nonprofits, faith-based organizations, academia, and business to discuss long-term strategies for ending hunger. The caucus also serves as a vehicle for antihunger organizations to communicate directly to Congress about hunger and food insecurity issues.

One of my top priorities for the House Hunger Caucus this year is to make sure we hear directly from those who have experienced hunger and poverty firsthand. We need to make sure that their voices are heard in the discussions here in Washington.

One of the greatest assets of the House Hunger Caucus is that it is bipartisan--Republicans and Democrats. It is a way for Members to come together to work to end hunger.

Mr. Speaker, there is not a congressional district in the United States of America that is hunger-free, not a single one. According to the USDA, more than 17.5 million American households were food insecure in 2013, meaning that their access to adequate food was limited by a lack of money or other resources; 5.6 percent of households were considered to have very low food security. In other words, those households were hungry.

Hunger disproportionately affects the most vulnerable among us: children, seniors, and the disabled. Last year, 16 million children, or one in five, experienced hunger, and increasingly, veterans and military families are experiencing hunger.

On the international side, about 805 million people in the world, or one in nine, suffer from hunger, according to the most recent U.N. reports. This is a decrease of 100 million over the past decade and 209 million since the early 1990s.

The U.S. can be proud of its leadership in reducing global hunger and addressing the root causes of food insecurity. Through partnerships with other nations, international organizations, our own farmers, NGOs, and private sector communities, we are advancing agricultural development; increasing child nutrition; reducing malnutrition among infants and children; empowering small farmers around the globe, especially women; and providing nutritious meals in school settings. While the journey is long, we now have a proven and coordinated set of programs that effectively address global hunger.

Mr. Speaker, as we reestablish the House Hunger Caucus, I can't think of a better location to launch it at than D.C. Central Kitchen, a unique antihunger organization that prepares 5,000 meals a day for more than 80 local nonprofit partners, helping those going through tough times.

One of D.C. Central Kitchen's greatest strengths is its culinary jobs training program, where men and women who have faced the most difficult of situations--homelessness, addiction, or incarceration--participate in a rigorous job training program to prepare for culinary careers.

As part of our kickoff this week, the House Hunger Caucus will host a briefing for House staff entitled ``Domestic Hunger 101'' tomorrow at 1 p.m. The briefing will be given by CRS experts and is intended to present a broad overview of the major domestic Federal antihunger programs.

I look forward to continuing this important work of the House Hunger Caucus with the gentlewoman from Kansas, Congresswoman Jenkins. I encourage my House colleagues to join the House Hunger Caucus.

As Members, we don't have to agree on everything to agree on something, and ending hunger should be something we all can agree on.

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