WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Congressman James P. McGovern (D-MA), Chairman of the House Rules Committee, announced that his bipartisan amendment providing $2.5 million for a White House Conference on Food, Nutrition, Hunger and Health has been approved by the House of Representatives.
“The first, last, and only White House conference on hunger was held the same year we put a man on the moon. That conference developed and strengthened many programs we still rely on like SNAP, WIC, and the national school lunch program. Yet hunger is still a devastating reality across America, and now is the time for us to redouble our efforts to solve this problem,” McGovern said.“My bipartisan amendment will seize this moment by providing $2.5 million to hold a White House conference on Food, Nutrition, Hunger and Health for the 21st century so we can bring together the heads of food banks, nonprofits, government agencies, educators, and people with lived experiences to end hunger. This is an all-hands-on-deck moment, and my amendment puts the full weight of the federal government behind our historic effort to solve this problem once and for all.”
McGovern secured language directing the White House to hold a hunger conference during the appropriations process, and his amendment to fund the conference was included in the final Financial Services and General Government appropriations package which passed the House today by a vote of 219 – 208.
Over the last few months, the Rules Committee, which McGovern chairs, has acted as a kind of select committee on hunger, organizing a nationwide push of roundtables, site visits, opinion pieces, and television appearances to demand action and push the Biden administration to hold a substantive, policy-based, and action-oriented White House hunger conference.
McGovern’s amendment was cosponsored by 24 other Members of Congress, including Representatives Schakowsky (IL), Panetta (CA), Kim (NJ), Torres, Norma (CA), Sablan (MP), Lee, Barbara (CA), Pingree (ME), Scanlon (PA), Radewagen (AS), Perlmutter (CO), Morelle (NY), DeSaulnier (CA), Ross (NC), Moore (WI), Raskin (MD), Hayes (CT), González-Colón (PR), San Nicolas (GU), Plaskett (VI), Adams (NC), Neguse (CO), Bonamici (OR), Matsui (CA), and Blumenauer (OR).
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