Food Insecurity

As we recuperate from our Thanksgiving meals, it's important to remember that many Americans did not have the same opportunity to, well, gorge as we just did.

Think Progress has a post on food insecurity in America using data from last year. Food insecurity means that a person does not always know where his/her next meal will come from.  Shockingly, over 17 million households faced food insecurity in 2010, or 1 in 7 households.

Most people,such as yourself, upon hearing this, would probably say, "how can we ensure that those households, especially those with children, have access to their daily nutritional needs?"  But you're probably not a Republican in Congress.  And you would definitely not be Representative Paul Ryan, whose budget slashes the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) by $127 billion (yes, with a "B") over the next decade.  Even with the additional number of families struggling in this economy.

The farm bill is not yet finalized, so the final budget for food assistance programs are not known (at least, by me), but with it under attack by Republicans in Congress and likely pressure on Democrats from agricultural states to protect farm subsidies, outlook is not good.  For some annoying reason, nutritional assistance programs are in the same budget pot as farm subsidies, which means that food assistance tend to suffer first.

Studies have shown the importance of good nutrition for families-from pregnant women to kids in school, so it's simply inexcusable that we are sabotaging our future by not ensuring that our children receive the proper amount of nutrition.