Food hardship remains the same
February 28, 2013 | 08:59 PM
The Food Research and Action Center’s annual food hardship report released today showed that 18.2 percent of the nation’s households experienced times in the past year when they did not have money to buy food. That rate has been the same since 2009.
Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., a former chairman of the House Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee, said in a news release, “This report clearly shows that now is most definitely not the time to cut any anti-hunger or nutrition programs.”
“Both the food stamp and WIC programs are at risk of being decimated when they are most needed,” she said. “In the richest country in the world, it is simply unconscionable that so many children go to bed hungry. We should be fixing this problem, not exacerbating it.”
Mississippi ranked the worst with 24.6 percent of households — one in four — reporting food hardship, but 42 states had rates of 15 percent of more. Even the “best” state, booming North Dakota, has one in 10 households struggling with food hardship, the report said.
Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., a former chairman of the House Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee, said in a news release, “This report clearly shows that now is most definitely not the time to cut any anti-hunger or nutrition programs.”
“Both the food stamp and WIC programs are at risk of being decimated when they are most needed,” she said. “In the richest country in the world, it is simply unconscionable that so many children go to bed hungry. We should be fixing this problem, not exacerbating it.”
Mississippi ranked the worst with 24.6 percent of households — one in four — reporting food hardship, but 42 states had rates of 15 percent of more. Even the “best” state, booming North Dakota, has one in 10 households struggling with food hardship, the report said.
