DeLauro Responds To Report Showing Widespread Food Insecurity

New Data Highlights Need for Congress to Protect Nation's Nutrition Safety Net

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) released the following statement today on a new report from the Food Research and Action Center (FRAC). The data shows that more than one in six Americans was food insecure last year—meaning they did not know where their next meal was coming from.

“This report clearly shows that now is most definitely not the time to cut any anti-hunger or nutrition programs. Both the food stamp and Women, Infants, and Children programs are at risk of being decimated when they are most needed. In the richest country in the world, it is simply unconscionable that so many children go to bed hungry. We should be fixing this problem, not exacerbating it.”

The national rate in 2012 was virtually unchanged from the rates in 2009, 2010, and 2011, as families continued to struggle with under- and unemployment, low wages, and inadequate government supports. The report found that food hardship rates remain too high, and that no corner of the country is immune from this struggle.

Connecticut ranked 45th among the 50 states and District of Columbia, with a food hardship rate of 14.6 percent. Broken down by congressional district, Connecticut’s Third—represented by DeLauro—had a food hardship rate of 13.6 percent, the highest in the state.

The full report is available at www.frac.org.