Billy February, JD Anticipated May 2024, Law and Public Policy Scholar
A momentous shift is occurring for the cause of food security. The federal government set an ambitious plan to end hunger by 2030 and Pennsylvania is taking action to achieve that goal.
Food Insecurity Historically
It’s been over fifty years since President Nixon held the first White House Conference on Food, Nutrition, and Health in 1969. It was here that Nixon reasserted his message to Congress that “the moment is at hand to put an end to hunger in America itself. For all time.” The most important proposal from the Conference was an expansion to the Food Stamp Program, which made huge improvements in addressing malnutrition and food insecurity.
Food Insecurity Currently
Food insecurity remains a pressing problem even after all these years since President Nixon’s proclamation. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, more than 38 million people in the United States are food insecure. 12.5 percent of households experience food insecurity. Adults usually feel food insecurity first as they shield their children from experiencing hunger, still 6.2 percent of households had food insecure adults and children. Census Bureau survey data from September 29 to October 11, 2021 found that 12 percent of households with children and 8 percent of households without children said they “sometimes or often did not have enough to eat in the last 7 days.” The most common reason for food insecurity was not being able to afford the cost of food.
The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is a federal program that is administered by the states which guarantees that assistance will go directly towards food. SNAP is labeled as the government’s “first line of defense against food-related hardship.” The Urban Institute and the USDA’s Economic Research Service and Food and Nutrition Assistance Research Program found that SNAP reduces the likelihood of being food insecure by 30 percent and keeps 20 percent of households food secure.
Although federal government assistance programs like SNAP, Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), and Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) help the poor and lowest income earners, there remains a large section of low-wage earners who are ineligible to participate in these programs because they earn more than the income cutoffs. These wage earners struggle to provide adequate food and nutrition for themselves and their families.
Causes and Impact of Food Insecurity
Positive wage growth has occurred in only ten of the past forty years, and that growth has a pattern of unequal distribution where top wage earners receive larger gains than middle and low wage earners. In conjunction with slow wage growth, inflation has spiked in recent years, particularly stressing middle and low wage earners. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that from August 2021 to August 2022, real wages have decreased by 3.4 percent. The Consumer Price Index reports increases and decreases of food prices in their Food Index. For September, the Food Index had its largest 12-month growth since May 1979 with an increase of 11.2 percent for food prices. Stagnate wages and food price inflation are leading factors that cause food insecurity, even for households who earn well above the poverty line.
Stagnant wages and food price inflation are the two reasons for food insecurity among these low-wage earners. Low-income workers spend a greater proportion of their income on food than higher income people, but higher income people spend much more on food in real terms than lower income people. Thus, income inequality results in inequality as to how much food lower-income workers can afford.
Food insecurity effects the health of an individual and places large expenses onto the public. Children suffer “developmental delays and behavioral problems” from lack of food access. Food insecurity leads to worse health outcomes in adults because of several factors “including worse dietary quality in food-insecure individuals; trade-offs between food and other basics, such as medications, that make chronic disease management more difficult; and psychological factors, including stress and depressive symptoms.” Economically, food insecurity increases healthcare cost because it both creates preventable medical conditions and exacerbates existing medical conditions. Food insecurity adds an average of $1,087,815,000 in health care costs for each state. These costs significantly fall on the public because food insecure households are less likely to have private insurance.
Federal Response to Food Insecurity
Food insecurity has been persistent and has hovered around 12 percent for the past three years. On September 28, 2022, President Biden once again held the White House Conference on Food, Nutrition, and Health, outlining a broad policy goal of ending hunger by 2030 and providing $8 billion to the public-private partnerships to meet these ends. Reminiscent of President Nixon’s proclamation, President Biden stated at the White House Conference that “in America, no child should go to bed hungry. No parent should die of disease that can be prevented.”
The Biden-Harris Plan will go a long way in providing food security. The main policy proposals are as follows: to create a free and healthy school meal program for all, expand the summer EBT program, lift the ban to participate in SNAP for formerly incarcerated individuals, remove restrictions for college students to participate in SNAP, and make the application process easier for social services. In a response to a USDA study which found that children from food insecure households primarily receive their meals for school, the Biden-Harris Plan offers free school meals for all students. This provision will lower childhood food insecurity, which stood at 5 million children as of 2021. The summer EBT program gives households SNAP benefits, or increased allotment for households already receiving SNAP, for the summer months when students are out of school. A permanent summer program will also help lower the number of children who are food insecure.
Of course, in the current political climate the legislative goals announced at the White House Conference will face opposition. Unlike fifty years ago when Republican Senator Bob Dole and Democrat Senator George McGovern could pass bipartisan anti-hunger legislation, fiscal conservatism from both parties will cause an uphill battle for the Biden administration. Yet, there remains hope: Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack “credited Sen. John Boozman, R-Ark., for helping to push through legislation that provided universal free meals over the summer and flexibilities to schools on what they can serve.” The Biden administration will need further support to pass the White House Conference’s legislative goals.
Pennsylvania’s Fight Against Food Insecurity
Under SNAP, states administer the program which gives them authority to expand eligibility at the state’s expense. Pennsylvania has made a remarkable expansion to SNAP where in May 2022 Governor Tom Wolf increased the eligibility criteria of SNAP from 130 percent of the federal poverty line to 185 percent. Starting this October, income criteria was raised to 200 percent of the poverty line. Raising the income eligibility is the bold initiative state governments must take to effectively lower food insecurity. From the new increase to 200 percent of the poverty line, the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services estimates that an additional 420,000 people will now be eligible to receive $63 a month towards their grocery bill. SNAP provides over 1.8 million people food assistance throughout the state. Expanding eligibility will go a long way in reducing the number of food insecure. As of 2021, the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture reported 1,540,900 Pennsylvanians were food insecure, comprising 12.0% of the population.
As the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services Executive Deputy Secretary Andrew Barnes stated, “Expanding eligibility for SNAP allows us to extend a reprieve to people who may be struggling so we can help more Pennsylvanians meet this most essential need . . .”. Ending hunger by 2030 is a bold yet achievable goal and state governments can assist in making this dream finally a reality.
Apply for SNAP benefits here.
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