Agriculture
Chair: Blanche Lincoln (D-AR)
- Max Baucus (D-MT)
- Michael Bennet (D-CO)
- Sherrod Brown (D-OH)
- Bob Casey (D-PA)
- Kent Conrad (D-ND)
- Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY)
- Tom Harkin (D-IA)
- Amy Klobuchar (D-MN)
- Pat Leahy (D-VT)
- Ben Nelson (D-NE)
- Debbie Stabenow (D-MI)
- Saxby Chambliss (R-GA)
- Thad Cochran (R-MS)
- John Cornyn (R-TX)
- Chuck Grassley (R-IA)
- Mike Johanns (R-NE)
- Dick Lugar (R-IN)
- Mitch McConnell (R-KY)
- Pat Roberts (R-KS)
- John R. Thune (R-SD)
Appropriations
Chair: Daniel Inouye (D-HI) Ag Sub-Committee
Chair: Herb Kohl (D-WI)
- Byron Dorgan (D-ND)
- Dick Durbin (D-IL)
- Dianne Feinstein (D-CA)
- Tom Harkin (D-IA)
- Tim Johnson (D-SD)
- Ben Nelson (D-NE)
- Jack Reed (D-RI)
- Robert Bennett (R-UT)
- Christopher Bond (R-MO)
- Sam Brownback (R-KS)
- Thad Cochran (R-MS)
- Mitch McConnell (R-KY)
- Arlen Specter (R-PA)
Health, Education, Labor, & Pensions
- Chris Dodd (D-CT)
Agriculture
Chair: B Collin Peterson (D-MN)
V. Chair: B Tim Holden (D-PA)
B Joe Baca (D-CA)
- John Boccieri (D-OH)
B* Leonard Boswell (D-IA)
- Bobby Bright (D-AL)
B* Dennis Cardoza (D-CA)
- Travis Childers (D-MS)
B Jim Costa (D-CA)
- Henry Cuellar (D-TX)
- Kathy Dahlkemper (D-PA)
B Brad Ellsworth (D-IN)
- Debbie Halvorson (D-IL)
B Stephanie Herseth Sandlin (D-SD)
- Steve Kagen (D-WI)
- Larry Kissell (D-NC)
B Frank Kratovil (D-MD)
- Betsy Markey (D-CO)
B Jim Marshall (D-GA)
P Eric Massa (D-NY)
B Mike McIntyre (D-NC)
- Walt Minnick (D-ID)
B Earl Pomeroy (D-ND)
- Mark Schauer (D-MI)
- Kurt Schrader (D-OR)
B David Scott (D-GA)
B Zachary Space (D-OH)
- Timothy Walz (D-MN)
- Frank Lucas (R-OK)
- Bill Cassidy (R-LA)
- K. Michael Conaway (R-TX)
- Jeff Fortenberry (R-NE)
- Virginia Foxx (R-NC)
- Bob Goodlatte (R-VA)
- Sam Graves (R-MO)
- Timothy Johnson (R-IL)
- Steve King (R-IA)
- Robert Latta (R-OH)
- Blaine Luetkemeyer (R-MO)
- Cynthia Lummis (R-WY)
- Jerry Moran (R-KS)
- Randy Neugebauer (R-TX)
- Phil Roe (R-TN)
- Mike Rogers (R-AL)
- Jean Schmidt (R-OH)
- Adrian Smith (R-NE)
- Glenn Thompson (R-PA) *=House Organic Caucus member B=Blue Dog Democrat
Appropriations
Chair: Dave Obey (D-WI) Ag Sub-Committee
Chair: P Rosa DeLauro (D-CT)
- Sanford Bishop (D-GA)
* Allen Boyd (D-FL)
- Lincoln Davis (D-TN)
*P Sam Farr (D-CA)
*P Maurice D. Hinchey (D-NY)
P Jesse L. Jackson, Jr. (D-IL)
P Marcy Kaptur (D-OH)
- Jack Kingston (R-GA)
- Rodney Alexander (R-LA)
- Jo Ann Emerson (R-MO)
* Tom Latham (R-IA) *=House Organic Caucus member
P=Congressional Progressive Caucus
Education and Labor
P Chair: George Miller (D-CA)
- Jason Altmire (D-PA)
- Robert Andrews (D-NJ)
- Timothy Bishop (D-NY)
P Yvette Clarke (D-NY)
- Joe Courtney (D-CT)
- Susan Davis (D-CA)
P Marcia Fudge (D-OH)
P Raul Grijalva (D-AZ)
P Phil Hare (D-IL)
- Ruben Hinojosa (D-TX)
P Mazie Hirono (D-HI)
- Rush Holt (D-NJ)
- Dale Kildee (D-MI)
P Dennis Kucinich (D-OH)
P Dave Loebsack (D-IA)
- Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY)
P Donald Payne (D-NJ)
- Jared Polis (D-CO)
- Robert Scott (D-VA)
- Joe Sestak (D-PA)
- Carol Shea-Porter (D-NH)
P John Tierney (D-MA)
- Dina Titus (D-NV)
- Paul Tonko (D-NY)
P Lynn Woolsey (D-CA)
- David Wu (D-OR)
- Buck McKeon (R-CA)
- Judy Biggert (R-IL)
- Rob Bishop (R-UT)
- Bill Cassidy (R-LA)
- Michael Castle (R-DE)
- Vernon Ehlers (R-MI)
- Luis F Fortuno (R-PR)
- Brett Guthrie (R-KY)
- Peter Hoekstra (R-MI)
- Duncan D. Hunter (R-CA)
- John Kline (R-MN)
- Kenny Marchant (R-TX)
- Tom McClintock (R-CA)
- Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA)
- Thomas Petri (R-WI)
- Phil Roe (R-TN)
- Todd Russell Platts (R-PA)
- Tom Price (R-GA)
- Mark Souder (R-IN)
- GT Thompson (R-PA)
- Joe Wilson (R-SC) P=Congressional Progressive Caucus
Every year before Thanksgiving, the US releases its newest numbers on hunger and food insecurity in America. The news ain't good. About one family in seven was food insecure in the last year - that's - 17 million (14.6%) of all US households. It represents an additional 4 million households as compared to the numbers released in 2007. Sadly, of the 17 million, 6.7 million (5.7%) households reported very low food security - an increase from 4.7 million (4.1%) households in 2007.
The report also tells how many children are going hungry. Children are often shielded from hunger as they are provided with WIC or school breakfast and lunch, and their parents are eager to give them food even if it means the parent goes hungry. Even still, 506,000 households had children going hungry. That's an increase from 323,000 households in 2007.
As you might expect, households with incomes near or below the poverty line, single parent households, and black or Hispanic households were the most likely to be food insecure. Also, inner city and rural families are more likely to be food insecure than those in the suburbs. The most food insecure region is the South, while the least food insecure region is the Northeast.
Last, many of the food insecure households surveyed used government programs or other charitable programs to help meet their food needs. In the previous month, 55% said they used one or more of the the National School Lunch, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance, or Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children programs in the previous month. Also, in the past year, 20% used food pantries and 2.6% ate one or more meals at a community emergency kitchen.
I've pasted the Community Food Security Coalition's response to the report below.
On Monday, November 16, 2009, the USDA released its annual Household Food Security in the United States Report based on findings from the Economic Research Service (ERS). Sadly, the 2008 report shows the highest levels of domestic food insecurity in the United States since USDA began tracking these national statistics in 1995. The report shows that 17 million (14.6%) US households were food insecure in 2008, an increase from 13 million (11.1%) households in 2007. At a Senate Agriculture Committee Hearing on Child Nutrition Reauthorization on Tuesday, November 17th, USDA Secretary Vilsack stated that this was the largest increase in any one-year period in the history of this report.
17 million households "did not have access by all people at all times to enough food." According to USDA, over 49 million people lived in these households, thus 49 million people went without access to sufficient food during 2008. The report also noted that more than one in five children went without enough food during 2008. And, as expected, rates of food insecurity were highest in households with incomes near or below the federal poverty line, with children headed by a single adult, and that are Black or Hispanic. Additionally, households in large cities and rural areas were more commonly food insecure than in suburban and outlying city areas.
With the current economic situation, and the soaring rates of unemployment, these numbers are likely to get worse before they get better. According to Jim Weill, Food Research and Action Center president, "As the recession hit, the number of Americans in households struggling against hunger skyrocketed to one in six last year, and it's likely that the number is even higher today. Millions have lost jobs or seen their wages reduced over the past two years. While many more people are turning to the federal nutrition programs for help, those programs don't reach enough people and their benefits often aren't enough to stop hunger... A strong economy, better wages, better income supports, and stronger SNAP/Food Stamp and child nutrition programs are the key steps."
The Community Food Security Coalition and the nation's leading anti-hunger organizations, working together as the National Anti-Hunger Organizations (NAHO), have updated A Blueprint to End Hunger [PDF], which outlines the steps needed to fight hunger in this country. In the Blueprint, NAHO argues that solving hunger will require a commitment from all sectors of society - government, businesses, nonprofits, and individuals - and specifies the actions needed from each sector.
We encourage you to review this report, as well as the following fact sheet [PDF] that CFSC has prepared regarding the ERS report.
