MAZON’s CEO Reacts to USDA Report on Food Security in the United States

MAZON Staff

September 5, 2018

Back

Abby J. Leibman, President & CEO of MAZON: A Jewish Response to Hunger, issued this statement in response to new data released today by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Economic Research Service:

“Today’s report confirming that food insecurity afflicts 11.8 percent of American households is not an outcome to be celebrated. Despite a modest 0.5 percent decrease from 2016, more than 40 million people still continue to struggle to put enough food on the table each day.

“We’d expect, given the rhetoric in Washington, D.C. about our nation’s economic boom and low national unemployment rates, that these numbers would be decreasing more significantly each year. Instead, they remain stubbornly elevated.

“This unacceptably high rate of food insecurity is why SNAP (the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Nutrition Program) remains such a vital program and must be protected and strengthened as Congress negotiates the Farm Bill.”

Stay up to date on our news.
Subscribe to our Newsletter.

News & Events

All News

When Trump plays favorites with faith, we all pay the price. (Religious News Service)

What they may not know is that on Easter Sunday, Brooke Rollins, the secretary of agriculture, sent an email to each of her nearly 100,000 agency employees, characterizing our country as a Christian nation. The Easter-themed email declared “He is Risen indeed!” and described the resurrection as the “foundation of our faith Read more.

Historic Cuts to SNAP Deepen the War on Women (Ms. Magazine)

The last few months in Washington, D.C., have been consumed with political theatrics around the budget reconciliation process. Republicans in the House and Senate scrambled to pass legislation that will cut $184 billion from SNAP through 2034—by far the largest cut to SNAP in the program’s history—to finance tax cuts for the wealthy big businesses. They also hope to increase funding for pursuit of immigrants. Read more.

House Ag Dems: OBBBA will allow states to end SNAP (The Fence Post)

States will be allowed to opt out of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program if state officials decide they cannot or will not pay the increased cost share under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), Democratic members of the House Agriculture Nutrition and Foreign Agriculture Subcommittee repeatedly pointed out at a hearing today. The three witnesses all agreed. Read more.