Since 2006 food insecurity in America has become a major concern and the food stamp program has more than tripled. The poverty rate has risen over the past three years, with an estimated 50 million people living below the official poverty line.
Hunger in America 2010 exposes the tragic reality of just how many people in our nation don’t have enough to eat. Due to lack of money from unemployed families people are missing meals and families are unable to provide adequate food supply for their children. Many people served by Feeding America food banks report they are struggling with unemployment, difficult choices between food and other basic necessities along with the pressures of skyrocketing healthcare costs.
The number of American’s receiving food stamps under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) rose to 42.4 million and another one million children received free or subsidized school lunches daily, while 400,000 pregnant women and nursing mothers received milk, butter, eggs and other food under the WIC program. One quarter of U.S. Households have at least one person receiving food stamps or other food aid. These numbers do not take in account the food-insecure households who aren’t participating in government assistant programs.
Despite the complacency voiced by the Obama administration official, there is ample reason to believe that the present nutrition programs, already inadequate to meet the social needs, will be further slashed by Congress. The Hunger Free Schools Acts, would help ensure that low-income children have access to free school breakfasts and lunches but the Child Nutrition Act must be reauthorized this year, and the Senate version of the bill cuts more than $2 billion from food stamps in order to pay for the increasing cost of school lunches-essentially robbing children at home in order to feed them in school. Obama has praised the proposal from the chairman of his deficit reduction commission to impose drastic cuts in social programs for the elderly and the poor along with lower taxes for the rich and for corporations and higher taxes for the working class.
Title: Hunger in America
Publications: World Socialist Web Site, 11/17/10
Author: Patrick Martin
HYPERLINK http://wsws.org/articles/2010/nov2010/pers-n17.shtml
Faculty Evaluator: Noel Byrne, Sonoma State University
Student Researcher: Marjorie Crowder, Sonoma State University