Ending Hunger in America, 2014 Hunger Report Full Report | Page 43

THE IMPORTANCE OF A WHITE HOUSE
SUMMIT TO END HUNGER

INTRODUCTION

Rep. Jim McGovern, Massachusetts - 2nd District
Close to 49 million struggle to put food on their tables.
Many of these are hardworking people whose jobs just do
not pay enough to feed their families.  We need to use every
opportunity we have to talk about it, to shine a light on the
plight of the hungry, to take hunger out of the shadows and
rededicate ourselves to the need to end hunger.
Just because 49 million people in this country struggle
to put food on their tables doesn’t mean that we have mass
starvation in America. Thankfully, we have developed a safety
net that helps to protect the vast majority of the hungry.
There are a myriad of initiatives being used to combat
hunger in America. These are public, private and non-profit
initiatives that are all very successful in their own ways. The
problem is that these efforts—from federal to state to local
governments; from non-profits like churches and food banks
to for-profit businesses—are working independently of each
other; they are not connected. And they can’t end hunger on
their own.
We need to work smarter and more efficiently if we’re
going to end hunger.
We need to bring everyone together and connect the dots.
We need a plan.
That’s why I’ve called for a White House summit to end
hunger.
Over the years, there have been citywide, countywide and
statewide hunger summits. Food banks, hospitals, colleges and
universities have all held these events. But there hasn’t been
one nationwide hunger summit, convened by the White House,
since President Nixon did so in 1969—over 44 years ago!
We need a summit today more than ever. Our deficit and
debt are forcing us to do more with less, and that means we
need to be more efficient and streamlined with our resources.
Our federal agencies should be talking to each other and
addressing hunger in a more comprehensive way.
Why shouldn’t the Departments of Labor, Health and
Human Services, Housing and Urban Development, and, yes,
the Department of Defense sit down and talk about the impact
of hunger and malnutrition on their efforts and how best to
address these problems?
As these agencies coordinate, we will need to involve our
food banks, religious institutions, schools and hospitals. And
we need to bring in the business community, including the food
and beverage industry, financial institutions and manufacturers.

DC Central Kitchen

Congressman Jim McGovern receives advice on cutting
vegetables from DC Central Kitchen staff with U.S. Secretary of
Agriculture Tom Vilsack in the corner putting on gloves.

We need to bring our doctors, nurses, teachers, pastors,
business leaders, politicians and, yes, the hungry too, in one
room to develop one plan to end hunger. And then we need to
agree to implement and execute that plan—a plan that is truly
comprehensive and is designed to end hunger and not just cut
the federal response to hunger.
Hunger is a political condition. We have the means and
knowledge to end hunger; we just don’t have the political will.
And while hunger is a political condition, it shouldn’t be a
partisan issue. A White House summit is the forum that we
need to galvanize political will to finally end hunger in America.
Ending hunger takes bold leadership. It takes presidential leadership. The president is the only one who can call
everyone together, who can get everyone in the same room
and on the same page in order to come up with one meaningful and achievable plan. We need the president to rise to the
occasion and fully commit to end hunger in America.

Democratic Congressman Jim McGovern represents the 2nd
District of Massachusetts. He has served in Congress since 1997.
www.bread.org/institute?

? 2014 Hunger Report? 33

n