[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 4]
[House]
[Page 5198]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                        SENIOR HUNGER IN AMERICA

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Massachusetts (Mr. McGovern) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, for the past 2 months, I have been 
speaking each week about hunger in America. Today, I want to focus on 
hunger among our senior citizens, which is a silent scourge in our 
Nation.
  Over 49 million Americans are hungry; and of those, 8.3 million are 
seniors. That's one in seven seniors and nearly 15 percent of everyone 
over 60 years old. In fact, from 2001 to 2009, hunger among Americans 
over the age of 50 increased by nearly 80 percent--80 percent. That is 
unconscionable.
  One reason for this significant rise in senior hunger is the economy. 
The recession has made hunger in America worse for everyone, and it's 
been particularly bad among people between the ages of 50 and 59, a 
population too young for Social Security and Medicare, but too old for 
programs that target families with children. And it's not just the very 
poor. In fact, between 2007 and 2009, the most dramatic increase in 
hunger was among those whose annual incomes were twice the poverty 
line.
  Food--good, healthy food--is important at all ages, but it is 
critical for young children and for senior citizens. For kids, 
nutritious food is critical for physical and mental development. For 
seniors, good, healthy food is critical for entirely different, but no 
less important, reasons.
  Hunger can exacerbate existing medical conditions, and many 
medications need to be taken with food. Taking some medicine on an 
empty stomach can result in illness or hospitalization, problems that 
not only result in increased medical costs, but can also be deadly to 
people with reduced immune systems.
  A common problem is that many seniors are homebound, unable to travel 
to grocery schools or food banks to get food. A homebound senior can be 
a forgotten senior. It's easy to see why senior hunger is a hidden 
problem. In many cases, the hungry senior is literally hidden away 
behind a closed door.
  That's why it is so important to have senior advocacy groups like 
AARP, the National Council on Aging, and AmpleHarvest.org--to name a 
few--who focus on senior hunger. AARP has its Drive to End Hunger 
campaign with NASCAR and Jeff Gordon. The National Council on Aging is 
working with Feeding America and other food banks to prioritize and 
target hunger among seniors. AmpleHarvest.org is working with seniors 
to grow their own food. And of course, there is Meals on Wheels, which 
delivers food directly to homebound seniors.
  A recent Brown University report found that for every additional $25 
a State spends on Meals on Wheels each year for a person over 65, the 
low-care nursing home population decreases by 1 percent. That helps 
save Medicaid dollars and lowers health care costs overall.
  In fact, the cost of feeding a senior for 1 year through Meals on 
Wheels is roughly equal to the cost of just 1 day in the hospital. And 
the average patient stays in the hospital for almost 5 days. Funding 
for Meals on Wheels is an important investment to decreasing health 
care spending.
  I also want to highlight the Senior Farmers' Market Nutrition 
Program, which helps more than 860,000 seniors who make less than 
$15,000 per year to have access to local fresh fruits and vegetables at 
farmers markets. A qualified senior is awarded between $20 and $50 to 
spend at their local farmers markets. Over 19,000 farmers participate 
and benefit from the money seniors spend through this program.
  Wholesome Wave is an organization that doubles the purchasing power 
of the Senior Farmers' Market Nutrition Program. Its Double Value 
Coupon program operates at more than 300 farmers markets in 26 States 
and the District of Columbia. Boston Mayor Tom Menino has a similar 
program called the Boston Bounty Bucks. These programs allow low-income 
seniors on fixed incomes to buy more fresh fruits and vegetables with 
their limited funds.
  Mr. Speaker, these are terrific programs, but they simply can't do it 
all. In the case of senior hunger, we need to make sure that groups 
like Meals on Wheels and programs like Senior Farmers' Market Nutrition 
Program are well funded. But we also need to work with doctors and 
nurses, with Medicare and Medicaid, and with other health care 
professionals to treat hunger as a health issue. We need to prevent 
costly hospital readmissions that are preventable with proper 
nutrition. We need to ensure that seniors aren't falling through the 
cracks and that they aren't going hungry.
  Mr. Speaker, we need Presidential leadership to End Hunger Now, and 
we need a White House conference on food and nutrition to talk about 
senior hunger; to brainstorm, plan, and execute a national antihunger 
plan that will truly end hunger now.
  We are the most prosperous Nation in the world. There is absolutely 
no reason why anyone should go hungry in the United States of America. 
It is especially shameful that so many older people, people who have 
made this country great, find themselves in a position where they are 
hungry. We can do something about it. I hope we come together, and I 
hope we end hunger now.

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