As pastors, faith leaders, and clergy from many faiths and traditions and every region of the United States, we commend Congress and the administration for initiating and enacting multiple bills during the ongoing pandemic to provide assistance for people living with hunger. Yet we know the work is far from over. Despite the actions of Congress and the White House, more than one in ten households was food insecure in 2020, according to USDA analysis on household food security in the US,[i] and the ongoing Census Bureau's Household Pulse Surveys report similar levels of food hardship in 2021.[ii]
The alarming numbers of people suffering from hunger, both in the United States and globally, is why we write to ask for your support of H.Res. 5724/ S. Res. 3064, the White House Conference on Food, Nutrition, Hunger, and Health Act, sponsored by Representatives Jim McGovern (D-MA) and Jackie Walorski (R-IN) and Senators Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Mike Braun (R-IN).
We believe that all people are made in the image of the divine. None should suffer needlessly from hunger. The systems that perpetuate hunger are antithetical to the values we share as people of faith. Therefore, we are united in the belief that we are called to end hunger both in the United States and around the globe.
Hunger is not a problem that a single person or family can solve alone. In the United States, institutions and policies perpetuate it, and it affects people in all parts of the country. Systemic biases, including racism and sexism, lead to higher rates of food insecurity and hunger among Black, Latino(a), Native American, and female-headed households.
Federal nutrition programs such as SNAP and WIC provide essential assistance to people struggling to put food on the table, and there are provisions to expand some programs if needs increase. This is a time of great and widening economic inequality in our country, and federal nutrition programs simply do not have enough funding to reach all who are eligible and provide adequate services. Our federal government must do more to improve and strengthen vital nutrition assistance programs to fully meet the needs of those who experience hunger in this country.
We hope that the White House Conference on Food, Nutrition, Hunger, and Health will address hunger and malnutrition globally as well. The COVID-19 pandemic has affected every country. For many countries with limited resources, the pandemic has joined other causes of hunger, such as armed conflict, displacement, and climate change, to create deeper economic recessions, greater reductions in food production, and increases in unmet needs for essential health care. The number of young children with life-threatening forms of malnutrition has soared since the pandemic began. More generally, the availability and affordability of nutritious foods have deteriorated significantly.
As people of faith and conscience, representing individuals and families who are experiencing hunger, we are hopeful about the opportunities available to our government to reduce hunger. We urge all members of Congress to cosponsor H.R. 5724/ S.3064, a bill that would bring together policymakers, advocates, people with lived experience, and other stakeholders for a White House Summit to end hunger in the United States and worldwide.
In a country and a world blessed with an abundance of food, no one should go hungry. We stand ready and eager to work with Congress to improve the policies that have allowed hunger and poverty to persist in our country and around the world. Holding a White House conference will help identify and prioritize the needed changes.
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[i]
https://www.ers.usda.gov/webdocs/publications/102076/err-298.pdf?v=4288.9 [ii]
https://www.cbpp.org/research/poverty-and-inequality/tracking-the-covid-19-economys-effects-on-food-housing-and 