[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 160 (2014), Part 7]
[House]
[Pages 10504-10505]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                             END HUNGER NOW

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Massachusetts (Mr. McGovern) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, each week I come to this floor to talk 
about ways that we can End Hunger Now. I have a simple premise that 
hunger is a political condition. We can end hunger now if we simply 
muster the political will to do so.
  Over the past year, I have defended the SNAP program, formerly known 
as food stamps. I have discussed the importance of nutritious school 
meals and have sung the praises of the WIC program. The Federal 
antihunger programs are amazing. They are effective, and they are 
efficient and are preventing hunger from becoming worse than it already 
is.
  The Federal antihunger programs can't do it alone, at least not the 
way they are currently structured. Despite what many critics claim, the 
Federal antihunger programs are too meager, and they still don't reach 
every hungry person in America. They fall under multiple agencies and 
departments and are not always connected, and they don't target the 
root cause of hunger, which is poverty.
  As a result, we have seen the rise of many nonprofit antihunger 
organizations. The majority of these nonprofit organizations are food 
pantries that distribute food to needy people. But there are other 
innovative organizations that are doing amazing work.
  One such organization is Share our Strength, founded by my friends 
Billy Shore and his sister Debbie Shore. Share our Strength is an 
amazing organization that is fighting hunger both through Federal and 
State policy and through programs that directly touch the hungry living 
in our country.
  Their flagship program is the No Kid Hungry campaign. They are 
working in States across this country to develop statewide plans to end 
childhood hunger in those participating States. They tailor these 
programs to fit each State and are focusing through this program on the 
scourge that is child hunger.
  Two more of their locally based programs are Shopping Matters and 
Cooking Matters. The Shopping Matters

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program teaches low-income families how to spend their food dollars. 
Whether it is cash or from an antihunger program, they are taught how 
to spend it wisely and how to purchase nutritious food with the limited 
money that they have. The Cooking Matters program teaches these 
families how to cook food in a healthy way.
  These three programs show both how important it is to creatively 
attack the problem of hunger in America and highlight the ways the 
Federal Government is failing these low-income families by not doing 
more.
  Just look at the No Kid Hungry campaign. Share our Strength is 
targeting States because the Federal Government hasn't created a 
national antihunger strategy. Share Our Strength turned to Governors 
because they are willing to do what Congress and the White House 
aren't--develop a plan. That is why I continue to call on this White 
House to do a White House conference on food and nutrition, to bring 
everyone together to develop a plan to end hunger now. Governors are 
doing this for kids. It is time that we do this for everyone.
  Look at the Shopping Matters program and the Cooking Matters program. 
These programs exist because Congress has cut the SNAP nutrition 
education program, necessitating a private, nonprofit sector program to 
teach people how to shop for and cook nutritious food.
  Share Our Strength is also conducting outreach and education in 
different ways. They promote and host events at the national, State, 
and local levels to combat hunger. These range from bake sales, to 
dining out events, to barbecues. These are not just feel-good events, 
Mr. Speaker. These are events that come with teaching programs, 
programs that allow hosts to promote ways to fight hunger in ways that 
don't seem so daunting.
  Mr. Speaker, there are many fantastic antihunger organizations both 
in Washington, D.C., and around this country. Share our Strength is one 
of these organizations that does fantastic work. I am proud of all of 
these groups that have stepped up to do what the Federal Government 
should be doing. I am proud of everyone who is banding together to 
fight hunger.
  However, my goal, my ultimate goal, is to put Share our Strength and 
these other groups out of business, not because they aren't a great 
organization, but because they are no longer needed. But the only way 
to put these groups out of business is by ending hunger, and the best 
way to do so is to increase wages as well as expand SNAP and other 
nutrition programs. Until then, we need to ensure that no person in 
this country goes hungry. Until the Federal antihunger programs reach 
everyone they need to in the best possible way, we are going to need 
organizations like Share our Strength to help vulnerable populations.
  Finally, Mr. Speaker, the failure of our government to make ending 
hunger more of a priority is appalling. To be indifferent, to blame 
poor people for being poor, as some in this House have done, is 
something that should make all of us ashamed. Republican leaders have 
attacked our antihunger programs and the White House, sadly, has been 
too timid. What we need is a war on poverty in this country, Mr. 
Speaker, not another war in Iraq. We can all do better. We can End 
Hunger Now.

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