292 posts categorized "Hunger and the U.S. Budget"

By Rev. Gary Cook

It may sound a little silly to write a “pastoral” letter to the president and congressional leaders.  Politicians, after all, usually respond to power and money, not the advice of clerics. But right now, as the sequester looms and it is obvious that the political process is stuck— if not broken—it may be time for a little pastoral counseling.

Today nearly 100 Christian leaders from across the wide spectrum of the church spoke with one voice to our nation’s leaders. National leaders of Catholic, protestant, Orthodox, Pentecostal, and evangelical churches—leaders representing broad racial and ethnic diversity—offered encouragement and wise counsel in the form of a joint letter. We thanked them for their efforts and told them that we're praying for them. We urged them to skip the brinksmanship and compromise on spending cuts and revenues. We asked them to remember that the Bible tells us that the government has responsibilities concerning poor people. We told them to be clear about the moral choices they are making. 

Our leaders would be wise to listen to such advice.  But it is the paragraph that begins with “Finally” that is most exciting to me:

Finally, we ask both parties to work together toward ending hunger and poverty. The Circle of Protection continues to be committed to protecting vital programs for people in or near poverty in our country and around the world, but that is not enough. Help us reduce hunger and poverty by expanding opportunity and justice, promoting economic growth and good paying jobs, stabilizing family life, and protecting the well-being of children. We celebrate the progress the world is making against hunger, poverty, and disease, and we are encouraged by the possibility of ending extreme hunger and poverty globally. Dramatic progress against hunger and poverty in our richly blessed country is also possible. Please, protect the poor and help create the opportunities that make them poor no more.

After two years of being in the defensive “please don’t cut” mode, Christian leaders are asking Congress and the president to look beyond their current squabbles toward a goal of actually ending hunger and poverty. That’s good pastoral advice.

Read the Circle of Protection letter here or below. Pastors, please click here to add your name to the letter.

Photo: 

By Rev. David Beckmann

The national discussion around hunger is changing — and your work is driving that change!

More than 6,800 of you have signed our petition asking the president to set a goal and work with Congress to end hunger. During his State of the Union address, President Obama outlined his proposals to help people climb out of poverty. But the March 1 sequester threatens WIC and poverty-focused development assistance, which are not exempt from deep automatic cuts.

These events make the presidential petition more important. Thank you so much for your support. We still have much to do, but the next step is easy: go see a movie.

This Friday, March 1, the documentary A Place at the Table will open in theaters nationwide. The film, from the producers of An Inconvenient Truth and Food, Inc., focuses on hunger in America.

A Place at the Table shows that we defeated hunger in the past and that we can do it again.

Please see the film—and invite your friends, co-workers, classmates, and family members to watch it with you. Click here to find a theater near you. A Place at the Table will also be available through iTunes and on-demand on March 1.

Bread for the World's 2013 Offering of Letters is also called "A Place at the Table" and launches on March 1. Together, the film and our Offering of Letters campaign will magnify our focus on ending hunger through changes in public policy.

Watch the movie, discuss it, and spread the word about the importance of ending hunger and poverty. A hunger-free world is within reach. God is at work in our midst, preparing an abundant table where all are welcome. With your voice we will convince our nation’s leaders to ensure all people a place at the table.

Jane Sabbi, a farmer in Uganda, learned to plant more nutritious crops like these beans after joining a Ugandan nonprofit farming collective that receives U.S. foreign assistance. (Laura Elizabeth Pohl/Bread for the World)

By Alex Loken

Not to mention the fact that the threat of across-the-board spending cuts, known as sequestration, continues to loom: unless Congress acts, these cuts will take effect at the beginning of March. An estimated 5.1 percent cut would result in over $1 billion cut from PFDA programs—that means millions of people would be without food aid, farmer training, education, and lifesaving medicine.   

Poverty-focused programs accomplish so much and reach millions of people around the world, while representing less than 1 percent of the entire U.S. federal budget. These programs are vital to lifting people around the world out of poverty. They also promote a positive image of the United States overseas, strengthen our national security by encouraging stability, and support jobs both at home and abroad.   

Funding for PFDA has more or less flat-lined over the past few years, but these programs have continued to provide lifesaving food aid, help thousands of farmers learn techniques that help increase their yields and incomes, slow mother-to-child transmission of HIV/AIDS, and educate children. Still, our work is not done: there are 900 million people who go to bed hungry every night and more than 1 billion people who live on less than $1.25 a day. But if PFDA funding is cut, it will be incredibly difficult to continue to work toward a world without hunger and poverty.

We all agree that America’s budget deficit must be dealt with, but cutting PFDA won’t help balance the ledger. As those on Capitol Hill work to come to an agreement around the debt ceiling and government spending, we urge Congress to protect programs that serve the world’s poor and vulnerable people.

Alex Loken is the government relations research assistant at Bread for the World.

For more information on PFDA, please see the Bread for the World Policy brief "Poverty-Focused Development Assistance 101."

Tara Marks, a Bread activist from Pittsburgh, once used WIC and SNAP benefits. She is currently in law school and gave testimony to the Senate Budget Committee on Feb. 13, 2013. (Laura Elizabeth Pohl/Bread for the World)

By Robin Stephenson

Today, Tara Marks is in law school—and yesterday she told members of the Senate Budget Committee that her journey from poverty to an advanced degree program was possible thanks to WIC and other similar federal programs.

Many of you remember Tara as the face of the 2012 Offering of Letters video "A Hunger for Advocacy." Her story of poverty so extreme that she skipped meals to provide enough for her son is an inspiration for many advocates at Bread for the World. Pell grants, WIC, and SNAP were the stepping stones that helped Tara escape poverty.

Senate Budget Committee Chairwoman Patty Murray (D-Wash.) invited Tara to give testimony. Sen. Murray has said that budgets "...are about the families across America whose lives will be impacted by the decisions we make. They are about their jobs, their children, and their future, and we owe it to them to make sure they have a voice in this process—and that their values and perspectives are heard.”

Tara’s journey plainly shows that budget discussions are about more than numbers—fiscal decisions have real consequences.

For Tara, a budget that funded domestic nutrition programs created a path out of hunger and poverty for her and her son, Nathan. During her testimony, Tara noted that when she was hungry, abundance surrounded her. “This was not a question of availability of food, but a question of affording it. I did not live in a food desert; I lived in a food mirage. I had many grocery stores around me, but I could not afford to go in and shop.”

She passed out from hunger before finally applying for SNAP (formerly food stamps), which gave her access to adequate food.  Food assistance alone did not help Tara move up the ladder of prosperity, but it gave her the stability to get the education that did.

Stories like Tara's and Nathan's not only humanize hunger and poverty, but serve to remind our members of Congress that decisions made today will affect lives tomorrow.  When Murray asked Tara where she thought she would be today were it not for those federal programs, she replied, “I would still be in poverty.”

In a continued effort to give families across the country a place at the budget negotiation table, Murray offers an online platform that allows members of the public to share their stories and ideas. Add your voice to the existing 2,000 submissions.

Today, one of the programs that provided critical assistance to Tara and Nathan—WIC—is in danger.  If the automatic spending cuts known as the sequester are allowed to go forward in the next couple of days, the Congressional Budget Office estimates that roughly 600,000 infants, children, and expectant moms will be without this vital assistance.  Their futures may well depend on your hunger for advocacy.  Call your member of Congress at 1-800-826-3688 and tell them that cutting programs that effectively combat hunger and poverty will not solve our country’s fiscal problems.

Robin Stephenson is national social media lead and senior regional organizer, western hub, at Bread for the World.

Jane Sebbi, carries matoke scraps to feed her pigs in Kamuli, Uganda. In addition to animal husbandry, Sebbi grows corn, bananas, coffee, amaranth, potatoes, soy beans, common beans and sweet potatoes. (Laura Elizabeth Pohl/Bread for the World)

By Robin Stephenson

How much do you know about hunger and poverty? Test your knowledge by taking this short quiz. We hope these questions—which cover great milestones in the fight against hunger and also statistics that remind us of the work still to be done—will encourage you to join us in asking the president to make ending hunger a priority. 

Tonight, President Barack Obama will  speak to Congress, and the nation, in his State of the Union address.  We're hoping he will use the opportunity to talk about ending hunger in the United States and abroad.

So, once you've taken the quiz, take a few seconds to sign this petition asking President Obama to set a goal and work with Congress to end hunger. Pass this quiz around—through email, Twitter, and/or Facebook—and help spread the word about the seriousness of hunger and what can be done to end it in our time.

By David Beckmann

Tonight, the president of the United States will outline a vision for our country in his State of the Union address. Will he mention ending hunger?

This is a challenging time for our country, with a tense political climate and ongoing budgetary woes. Despite those difficulties, our political leaders must make ending hunger a top priority now. As Christians, we are called to remind our elected leaders of God's vision that people one day will "hunger no more, and thirst no more" (Revelation 7:16).

Take a few seconds right now to sign this petition asking President Obama to set a goal and work with Congress to end hunger.

While there is enough food in the world for everyone, many people still go hungry. In scripture, God's kingdom is portrayed with ample food and drink and a place at the table for all people. Bread's 2013 Offering of Letters, "A Place at the Table," boldly calls our nation's leaders to unite around this vision.

The Offering of Letters, which launches March 1, is Bread's primary legislative campaign of the year, and its success will depend on strong leadership, political will, faith — and a demand for change from Christians across this country. We need your help. Signing the petition is just the first step.

This year, Bread's Offering of Letters will ask you to do three things:

1. Petition the President to set a goal and work with Congress on a plan to end hunger,
2. Urge Congress to ensure a place at the table for all God's children by adequately funding programs to help hungry and poor people, and
3. Help make ending hunger a part of our national conversation by watching the film A Place at the Table, which opens March 1.

We need you to campaign with us to ensure a place at God’s abundant table for everyone. Are you ready to answer the call to make ending hunger a priority for this country? Join us.

David Beckmann is president of Bread for the World.

Sen. Mike Johanns (R-Neb.) listens as Bread for the World activist Jana Prescott speaks during Bread for the World Lobby Day in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, June 12, 2012. (Laura Elizabeth Pohl/Bread for the World)

By Robin Stephenson

While the 113th Congress is new, many of the issues it will tackle are not. Funding for both domestic nutrition programs and refundable tax credits is still in jeopardy. Poverty-focused  development assistance is also in danger, and any cuts made to PFDA would result in lives lost and an increase in hunger and poverty around the world.

Given the urgency surrounding congressional budget negotiations and the fact that the fate of programs that benefit hungry and poor people is uncertain, anti-hunger advocates need to be ready for a busy year. Here are three questions you should ask yourself in preparation for your 2013 advocacy efforts. 

Do you have a new representative or senator in your region?  

If so, introduce yourself to staff in the new member's local office, and also use the opportunity to introduce them to the issues in the 2013 Offering of Letters.

Relationships are key to successful advocacy and making contact with local staffers is important.  They can help you connect with the D.C. legislative staff, and since they live in the member's district and work directly to address the concerns of constituents, they often have an understanding of how poverty and hunger are affecting a community. Local meetings also give our experts on Bread’s staff the opportunity to follow up with the legislator’s D.C. staff.  Check out the Congressional Management Foundation list "Five Key Ways to Engage Freshman Legislators," and if you are able to set up a local office meeting, be sure to contact your regional organizer. Bread's organizers can provide you with talking points and handouts that you can use during your visit. 

Check out this example, from the New Mexico Bread team, on finding your members in district.

Is your member on a relevant committee?

Are you planning a hunger summit or site visit that your member of Congress could possibly attend? 

Members of Congress typically spend three days a week in Washington, D.C., and travel home on the weekends.  Members also have longer periods of time spent in their home states or districts (called recess), which are dictated by each chamber’s calendar.  Recess is a great time to connect with your member of Congress, but it's important to plan ahead. If you want to request a meeting with your member, find out scheduled town hall dates, or invite your member to an event during one of those periods, do it well in advance. 

As part of a local faith roundtable, our Oregon Bread team often partners on events that educate our community.  Last year, the newly elected Rep. Suzanne Bonamici (D-Ore., District 1) dropped by the annual Oregon Faith Roundtable Against Hunger breakfast in Portland and then wrote about it in a Facebook status update!

Robin Stephenson is national social media lead and senior regional organizer, western hub, at Bread for the World.

Barbie Izquierdo and her children are profiled in the new movie, A Place at the Table. To see a preview of the movie and learn more about "A Place at the Table: Bread for the World's 2013 Offering of Letters," visit www.bread.org/ol.

On March 1, 2013, Bread for the World will be involved in setting places at two tables.

One is "A Place at the Table: Bread for the World’s 2013 Offering of Letters."

The other is a new feature-length documentary, A Place at the Table, which shows the persistence of hunger in the United States.

Together, the two "Tables" represent a united effort to end hunger by raising awareness and advocating for policy changes. By coordinating our Offering and Letters with the social action campaign of the movie, Bread for the World will be promoting a national dialogue about how to best secure the leadership, commitment, and unity to end hunger in our country and abroad.

Bread for the World's 2013 Offering of Letters is the most sophisticated campaign we have ever conducted, focusing on both the White House and Congress.

For the first time, we are seeking greater leadership from the White House. We want President Barack Obama to set a goal and work with Congress on a plan to end hunger at home and abroad. Beside regular communication with White House officials, we are asking our members to petition the president. We hope to generate at least 100,000 signatures.

As in past Offerings of Letters, we will continue to focus on policy makers in Congress. Domestic and international programs that help hungry and poor people continue to be threatened by budget cuts. Through handwritten letters, personal email messages, in-person visits, and phone calls, we will be asking our legislators to protect funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly food stamps); the Special Supplemental Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC); and poverty-focused development assistance (PFDA).

We are also asking legislators to support a national commitment to reduce hunger through the tax code. We want Congress to preserve the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and the Child Tax Credit (CTC) while raising revenue to support anti-hunger programs.

Finally, we are asking Congress to work with the president on a plan to end hunger.

"The reality is that in order to break free from the bondage [of poverty] in this country and the world, we need elected officials to make good on their words and put love thy neighbor at the center of our legislative agenda," said seminary student and Hunger Justice Leader Derick Dailey in response to the two-pronged Offering of Letters.

This reality will be apparent to many people around the country after they watch the new documentary, A Place at the Table. When film directors Kristi Jacobson and Lori Silverbush approached Bread for the World board member Terry Meehan, seeking support for the film, the rest of the board quickly decided that this was an opportunity to speed up change.

The filmmakers were inspired by the public reaction that was generated by the 1968 CBS Special, Hunger in America. In response to that television program, Congress passed bipartisan laws that all but eradicated U.S. hunger in the 1970s. "We figured that if it worked once, maybe it could work again," said Jacobson.

National distribution of A Place at the Table became possible when Participant Media came on board to finance the film, followed by Magnolia Pictures as the distributor. It will open in theaters throughout the country on March 1 and will be available on-demand (through iTunes, Amazon.com, and other outlets).

We urge all Bread members to see this film. We have resources to help you study the issues raised in the film, as well as materials to distribute at screenings. You can preorder them from Bread's online store or by calling 800-822-7323.

Bread’s association with Participant Media does not end when the film hits the theaters. We are also partners in the social campaign accompanying the film. Through A Place at the Table’s social action campaign, Bread members will have more avenues for action—at both the national and local levels. Bread for the World and Participant Media will regularly ask our advocates to take various actions throughout this campaign. To join the campaign, text FOOD to 77177.

"Jesus tells us to give them something to eat, and the film shows that our churches do a good job of providing food through food pantries and soup kitchens," said Rev. David Beckmann. "It also shows that this will never be enough. We need to demand that our government get serious about ending hunger."

[This piece originally appeared in the February edition of Bread's e-newsletter.]

DeEtte Peck uses her Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) card in Portland, Ore., to purchase food. The card helps people with low incomes purchase food through SNAP. (Brian Duss for Bread for the World)

Congress may have addressed the fiscal cliff at the beginning of the new year, but the budget fights will continue, and the next round of deadlines are approaching rapidly. On March 1, the across-the-board cuts—known as the sequester—begin to take effect. Then on March 27, the current stop-gap measure funding the government—known as a continuing resolution or CR—expires.

Members of Congress agree that the sequester is a bad approach to deficit reduction, but they can’t agree on how to replace it. Thus, an increasing number of members of Congress are saying they believe the sequester will go into effect for at least some period of time.

Latest estimates suggest nondefense programs would be cut by about 5.1 percent for the remainder of the current fiscal year. Under this scenario, WIC would be cut by approximately $333 million, and 450,000 recipients would lose benefits. Poverty-focused development assistance would see roughly $1 billion in cuts. This could mean tens of thousands of lives lost due to reduced or denied access to food aid, medicine, clean water, and other services that U.S. aid dollars provide. More than 2 million people would be harmed by cuts to Food for Peace and McGovern-Dole school feeding programs.

As bad as these cuts would be, the sequester is not the biggest budget threat. Congress could subject these programs to further cuts as Congress finalizes appropriations for the remainder of the 2013 fiscal year, which runs through Sept. 30, 2013. More concerning, some members of Congress want to alter the sequester to protect defense spending by shifting the $45 billion in defense cuts to have the full $90 bill fall on nondefense programs, including WIC, poverty-focused development assistance, international food aid, and other appropriated spending programs.

Moreover, a number of programs for hungry and poor people are currently protected from the sequester — these include the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly food stamps), the child nutrition programs, the Earned Income and Child Tax Credit, and Medicaid. However, some in Congress urging a sequester replacement package that eliminates these protections.

Bread for the World is calling on Congress to eliminate the possibility of the sequester with a balanced package that includes both new revenue and responsible spending cuts. This plan needs to leave a place in the budget for programs that help feed hungry people and move poor people move out of poverty.

The Farm Bill

Congress failed to reauthorize the farm bill in 2012, choosing instead to extend most farm programs through Sept. 30, 2013. Therefore, the House and Senate Agriculture Committees must begin the process again, going through the committee process and basing their work on the bills written last year. Although the 2012 Senate proposal had some good provisions when it came to international food aid reform, it also cut SNAP by $4.5 billion. The 2012 House proposal cut SNAP by over $16 billion and international food aid programs by more than 95 percent.

Bread for the World members must continue to push hard against cuts to SNAP and international food aid.

[This piece originally appeared in the February edition of Bread's e-newsletter.]

The Twin Cities Bread team used a fall 2012 congressional recess as an opportunity to schedule an in-district meeting with Rep. Erik Paulsen(R-Mn.). Pictured: (front row, l to r) Audrey Johnson, Ed Payne, Brad Pepin; (back row, l to r): Gerry Peterson, Dick Johnson, Rep. Paulsen, Judy Waeschle, Carol Dubay, Lois Troemel. (Photo courtesy of Twin Cities Bread team)

By Robin Stephenson

For members of Congress, recess doesn’t involve games of tag or hide-and-seek on the playground. It is a time when they return to their home states and districts to find out what their constituents think—what you think.

During recess, town halls meetings (PDF ) are likely to take place. A town hall is a great opportunity to get your member of Congress to speak publicly about programs affecting hungry and poor people.

If you would like to get a face-to-face meeting with your representative or one of your senators, try to schedule it during recess, when members of Congress are more likely to be available. And if you are planning an education or advocacy event, choose a time when your member may be able to attend (August recess is the longest in-district period). They are always looking for opportunities to meet with their constituents.

Local staffers schedule activities early, but schedule changes often occur, so some flexibility on your part may be required. Just because your member is in-district doesn't mean they can attend your event, but it never hurts to ask and put yourself on their radar.

Below are the tentative recess periods for members of the Senate and House. These dates will aid you as you plan your anti-hunger activities for 2013 (you may periodically want to recheck these calendars).

House 2013  tentative scheduled recess periods:

• Feb. 18 – Feb. 22
• March 25 – April 5
• April 29 – May 3
• May 27 – May 31
• July 1 – July 5
• Aug. 5 – Sept. 6
• Oct. 14 – Oct. 18
• Nov. 4 – Nov. 8
• Nov. 25 – Nov. 29

Senate 2013 tentative scheduled recess periods:

• Feb. 18 – Feb. 22
• March 25 – April 5
• April 29 – May 3
• May 27 – May 31
• July 1 – July 5
• Aug. 5 – Sept. 6
• Oct. 14 – Oct. 18

Call your regional organizer if you want to talk about planning an event in your area. 

Robin Stephenson is national social media lead and senior regional organizer, western hub, at Bread for the World.