[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 34 (Wednesday, March 2, 2016)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E263]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                                 HUNGER

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. BARBARA LEE

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, March 2, 2016

  Ms. LEE. Mr. Speaker, I thank Congressman McGovern for the tireless 
work he does every day for hungry families and children.
  I rise as Chair of the Democratic Whip's Task Force on Poverty, 
Income Inequality, and Opportunity, which Congressman McGovern is also 
a member of and I want to thank him for that and for our SNAP challenge 
almost 3 years ago. That was truly an eye opener and so important to 
make sure we stop any cuts from this critical program.
  Mr. Speaker, persistent hunger is truly a stain on our nation.
  Fourteen percent of households in America--that's nearly one in 
seven--are food insecure.
  These are people, who despite working full time, simply don't earn 
enough to feed their families. For these families, putting food on the 
table is a constant struggle.
  It is truly a disgrace that in the richest and most powerful nation, 
that this many families are going hungry every day.
  And this burden is hard on children. More than 15.3 million American 
children are living in food-insecure households today. Let me say that 
again: more than 15 million kids are at risk of going to bed hungry--
every night.
  And hunger is far from color blind.
  We know that communities of color are disproportionately affected by 
hunger. For example in 2014:
  One in four African American households and
  One in five Latino families were food insecure.
  And for rural families, food insecurity is coupled with other 
barriers including lack of access to transportation and limited job 
opportunities. More than 17% of rural households--that's 3.3 million 
households--are food insecure.
  We know that hunger is a problem that affects people in every zip 
code. It is endemic in our counties, rural communities, urban streets 
and suburban neighborhoods.
  I've seen its impact in my community, Alameda County, where one in 
five residents have turned to our local food bank for help. These 
families are forced to make impossible choices to feed their children. 
Many must decide between food and medicine, food and school clothes, or 
food and paying the electric bill.
  One Alameda County mother, Claire, said ``My kids need milk, but we 
can't afford it. So, I buy condensed milk and water it down.''
  This is the tragic reality of millions of families in our country. 
And this epidemic of hunger is the direct result of persistent poverty 
and continued cuts to vital safety net programs.
  As a young mother, I struggled to keep food on the table for my two 
little boys. Food stamps, or SNAP as we call it now, was a bridge over 
troubled water for my family. Thanks to this safety net, I was able to 
get my degree, start a small business, and eventually be elected to 
Congress.
  Surely we should be providing these benefits for all families?
  Programs like SNAP, housing vouchers, Head Start, Medicaid and Pell 
Grants help families lift themselves out of poverty and were critical 
to President Johnson's War on Poverty.
  And SNAP--which is our nation's first line of defense against 
hunger--is also a critical tool in the fight against poverty. In 2015, 
it kept nearly 5 million Americans--including 2.2 million children--out 
of poverty in 2014.
  We should be strengthening these programs instead of cutting them.
  Mr. Speaker, we need real solutions to these very real problems. My 
legislation, the Half in Ten Act (H.R. 258), would develop a national 
strategy to cut poverty in half over the next decade. That's more than 
23 million Americans lifted out of poverty and into the middle class in 
just the next 10 years.
  We must recognize that addressing food insecurity in America is a 
critical first step in this ongoing war on poverty. We can do this, and 
we can do so much more.

                          ____________________