Opportunity for Congress to
Act Locally on Hunger

In my opinion, Congress needs to finish action on practical legislation to address directly hunger in America.

Even before the headline-grabbing problems now caused by soaring food prices, the US Department of Agriculture's annual hunger survey found more than 35 million people were food insecure -- they either suffered from hunger or sacrificed other essential items for food. Most tragically, this included 12 million children.

Federal "food rescue" actions can be particularly useful to steward our food resources to feed our hunger neighbors.

The Federal Food Donation Act (S. 2420 by Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and H.R. 4220 by Rep. Jo Ann Emerson (R-MO), both with bipartisan cosponsors) would require federal agencies that serve food on their
premises to encourage the donation of excess food to the more than 43,000 soup kitchens and food pantries battling hunger.

This legislation passed the House last December and was recently approved by a Senate committee for floor action.

While many are now thinking globally about global food price, scarcity and distribution issues, in my opinion the Federal Food Donation Act is an important and overdue way to act locally now.

Gary Capistrant

In Your Opinion

If you would like to respond, please use the form below. 

Selected responses will be posted on the 'In My Opinion' section of our web site.