WASHINGTON – Today, Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley (MA-07) issued the following statement on the White House Hunger Conference, which she participated in this morning along with Chairman James P. McGovern (MA-02) and others.
“We can’t solve our nation’s hunger crisis without centering the voices and lived experiences of those most impacted, and I can think of no better platform to address it than the convening power of the White House. Today’s conference on hunger will help inform our federal response and help us confront this crisis head-on, and I am so grateful to my friend and partner in good, Chairman McGovern, for his years of sweat equity that have made this conference possible.
“This summer, I was proud to host a listening session in my district on food insecurity as part of the White House’s conference, where we heard from impacted families, advocates and local leaders about how to address the hunger crisis in Massachusetts and beyond, including the need to provide increased financial support for our most vulnerable families, reduce bureaucratic barriers to access, expand eligibility for healthy food access to our immigrant neighbors, and more. We shared their powerful testimony with the White House, and I hope that by providing solutions that are rooted in the reality of my constituents’ lived experiences, we will aid the White House as it crafts its roadmap to ending hunger once and for all.
“With food insecurity on the rise in Massachusetts and beyond, this conference could not be more timely, and I look forward to continuing my partnership with the White House and Rep. McGovern to affirm food as the human right that it is. I applaud the Biden Harris Administration for making this an urgent priority.”
In July 2022, at the request of the White House, Rep. Pressley held a district convening on Food Insecurity with Project Bread as part of the upcoming WH hunger conference. Testimony from this convening was transmitted to the White House, along with some specific recommendations, to help inform the conference.
In October, Rep. Pressley joined Congressman James P. McGovern (MA-02) and Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) at a press conference to unveil legislation that would start the process of convening a national White House conference on food, nutrition, hunger, and health.
Rep. Pressley has also led efforts to extend the United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) child nutrition waiver authority, which has allowed millions of children in Massachusetts and across the nation to access free and healthy school meals during the pandemic. She delivered a floor speech renewing her calls for its extension last month and applauded the House’s passage of legislation to do so later that month.
Original source can be found here
