Press Releases

November 9, 2012

The Honorable Barack Obama
President, United States of America
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20500

Dear President Obama,

Congratulations on your re-election. I look forward to working with you and providing strong support for your efforts to meet our country's challenges in the term ahead. As you prepare to enter your second term as President of the United States, I urge you to renew your commitment to end hunger in our country and make ending hunger a national priority.

As you know, more than 50 million people in the United States live in families that struggle to put food on the table, including nearly 17 million children. Food insecure families often make difficult choices between important necessities, like choosing between paying for food, medical care, transportation, or utilities. Hunger impacts a family's ability to maintain good health, access to employment, and it impacts a child's ability to concentrate and perform well in school. With so many families struggling to put food on the table, it is more critical than ever that we protect and strengthen anti-hunger programs.

I urge you, as you tackle deficit reduction in the coming year, to draw a line in the sand against any cuts to low-income programs in budget negotiations including SNAP, WIC, and other vital anti-hunger programs. Despite ever-increasing need, threats to these programs are greater than we have seen in decades. With your leadership in the next several months, I am confident that we can uphold the long standing bi-partisan principle of exempting anti-poverty programs from deficit reduction and achieve a balanced solution that does not create more hardship for low-income families. Every major deficit reduction package for the last several decades has exempted low-income programs from cuts. This strong tradition should not change now.

Holding anti-hunger programs harmless, however, is only a temporary solution to a much more complex problem. Hunger can and must be eliminated but it will take bold Presidential leadership. I ask that you make ending hunger a focus of your second term. Your inaugural address and the State of the Union are prime opportunities to boldly restate your commitment to ending hunger. Much like your administration was able to achieve significant strides in promoting child nutrition in your first term by leveraging cabinet level engagement, making hunger a priority in your second term would put our country on track to end hunger.

With your leadership, our nation can harness the talents and skills of a broad range of Americans to develop a holistic plan to achieve an end to hunger. A White House Conference on Food and Nutrition that convenes public and private sector leaders at the local, state, and national level, harnessing the energy, innovation, and resources necessary to end hunger would elevate the issue for all Americans. .

The Great Recession and slow economic recovery have posed incredible challenges and hindered progress against hunger. However, our country's economic troubles have also focused a spotlight on the problem of hunger and raised awareness in communities across the nation about neighbors who are struggling to provide for their family's most basic need. Now is the opportune moment to lead our country in a shared commitment to ending hunger by publicly committing to this goal, by boldly protecting our safety net, and by bringing key stakeholders together to develop a plan that moves our nation forward.

I am thrilled that you will have another four years to demonstrate your leadership in fighting hunger and improving nutrition in our nation. I pledge to work with you on these issues in your next term. I know that with your leadership, we can achieve our shared vision of a hunger-free America.

Sincerely,

James P. McGovern
Member of Congress