Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 8888) to amend title 38, United States Code, to establish in the Department of Veterans Affairs an Office of Food Security, and for…
Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 8888) to amend title 38, United States Code, to establish in the Department of Veterans Affairs an Office of Food Security, and for other purposes, as amended.
Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and insert extraneous material on H.R. 8888, as amended.
Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 8888, as amended, the Food Security for All Veterans Act.
This bill establishes an office dedicated to ending veteran hunger at the VA that will collaborate with internal and external groups to develop and implement policies and procedures to identify and treat veterans at risk of or experiencing hunger.
Food insecurity can create or exacerbate other health maladies and is one of many contributing factors that has led to increased suicide rates, diabetes, heart disease, and depression. Addressing veteran hunger is critical to this committee's suicide prevention efforts.
Madam Speaker, I thank our newest Member from Alaska, Congresswoman Peltola, for taking up this important issue and prioritizing veterans.
The VA has made tremendous strides in its work to end veteran hunger. The VA leads an interagency working group and regularly collaborates with its Federal counterparts on this issue. The VA also instituted a clinical reminder that screens every veteran who receives their care at VA for food insecurity and connects those in need with resources.
However, until recently, these tasks were carried out by VA employees as ancillary duties. There was no staff dedicated solely to addressing veteran hunger. The VA has started the process of building a team that works exclusively on this issue, and Congresswoman Peltola's bill gives the VA the infrastructure and resources to ensure those efforts continue for years to come.
Before the pandemic and still now, Black, Latino, Native American, and Alaska Native veteran families experienced disproportionately high rates of hunger. This bill requires the VA to coordinate with the VA Office of Tribal Government Relations and the Department of the Interior to focus on these communities.
A critical issue this bill intends to affect is the disparity between the VA and USDA data on veteran hunger. The USDA reports about an 11 percent rate of food insecurity among veterans versus the VA, which reports a roughly 2 percent rate among veterans using VA healthcare.
The bill requires VA, in consultation with the USDA, to issue an annual report to Congress on the prevalence of veteran hunger. It also requires the VA to track its progress and success in connecting more veterans with resources like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP.
Importantly, the Food Security for All Veterans Act mandates the VA collaborates with the Departments of Agriculture and Defense to develop materials for the Transition Assistance Program to help increase access to food resources for families in need as they navigate the military- to-civilian transition.
September is Hunger Action Month, and today, the White House hosted the Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health that will catalyze the public and private sectors around a coordinated strategy to accelerate progress
and drive transformative change in our country to end hunger.
This legislation is endorsed by numerous veterans service organizations and hunger advocacy organizations, including Student Veterans of America, MAZON: A Jewish Response to Hunger, Food Research & Action Center, Disabled American Veterans, American Federation of Government Employees, National Coalition for Homeless Veterans, Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, and Blue Star Families.
Madam Speaker, I include in the Record the following letters from MAZON: A Jewish Response to Hunger and the Food Research & Action Center.
[MAZON, Sept. 23, 2022]
Statement for the Record in Support of H.R. 8888 Submitted by MAZON: A
Jewish Response to Hunger
A Jewish Response to Hunger is pleased to share this
statement for the record in support of H.R. 8888, the Food
Security for All Veterans Act. This bill, which would
establish an Office of Food Security at the U.S. Department
of Veterans Affairs, represents a helpful step forward in the
effort to achieve a more comprehensive and lasting solution
to the preventable problem of veteran food insecurity.
Inspired by Jewish values and ideals, MAZON takes to heart
our collective responsibility to care for the vulnerable in
our midst, without judgement or precondition. In the United
States, this responsibility to prevent and respond to hunger
lies centrally with our federal government. The charitable
food sector is in no way equipped to respond to the scope of
food insecurity in America--all of the charitable and faith-
based organizations in this country combined contribute less
than ten percent of all food assistance in this country and
have extremely limited capacity to respond to more than
emergency needs. The food insecurity crisis in our country is
the purview of the federal government and it is impractical,
inefficient, and immoral to abdicate this responsibility and
attempt to outsource the response to a charitable sector that
is already overburdened.
For over 37 years, MAZON has been fighting to end hunger
among all people of all faiths and backgrounds, and for
nearly ten years, we have prioritized addressing the long-
overlooked issue of food insecurity among veterans and
military families. Jewish text and tradition compel us to
honor the dignity of every person, especially those who are
struggling. No matter a person's circumstance, no one
deserves to be hungry. Those who have bravely served to
defend our country especially should never have to be
subjected to the cruel and painful experience of hunger.
The establishment of the Office of Food Security at the
Department of Veterans Affairs that is empowered to
coordinate efforts among VA program offices, provide
information about and help connect veterans to available
nutrition assistance benefits and resources, collaborate with
USDA, Department of Defense, and other federal agencies, and
develop and provide training for professionals who work with
veterans, would be an extremely helpful step forward in the
national effort to address the crisis of veteran food
insecurity.
MAZON has testified before Congress and shared our insights
and recommendations about food insecurity among veteran
households numerous times over the years. Unfortunately, too
little progress has been made during the intervening time.
There have been some positive steps, both programmatically
and through policy change, that have helped; most notably,
the recent adoption of the Hunger Vital Signs screening tool
at all VA outpatient facilities (MAZON has long advocated for
mandatory food insecurity screenings and SNAP eligibility
screening, and application assistance across the VA system;
much more still remains to be done on this front to connect
food insecure veterans with SNAP) and increases to SNAP
benefits through the temporary boost included through COVID-
19-relief legislation and the recent update to the Thrifty
Food Plan by USDA.
It should be noted that, while the temporary boost to SNAP
benefits and other COVID-19 assistance provided by the
federal government helped to alleviate some material hardship
and prevented food insecurity and poverty rates from
dramatically spiking due to the pandemic and associated
economic downturn, the American population--including
veterans--experienced exacerbated challenges that compounded
food insecurity rates and more severe impacts.
These challenges include elevated rates of unemployment
(particularly within the service sector and
disproportionately impacting female employees and people of
color), widespread school closures and the loss of subsidized
school meals, medical emergencies and the associated
financial costs for treatment and lost income from time out
of work), and mental health distress.
We are particularly concerned about the impacts of racial
inequities on veterans and the ongoing tragedy of heightened
suicide rates among veterans. While there is growing public
awareness and concern about both issues, there remains a need
for viable policy proposals to address them. The
disproportionate impact of food insecurity on households of
veterans of color highlight racial inequities that are
perpetuated through public policies and program
implementation. Closing the SNAP participation gap for
veterans and improving the program to better reach and serve
food insecure veterans of color will not only signal a
commitment to meaningful efforts to address racial justice--
it will concretely contribute to those efforts to achieve
greater racial equity in federal policy.
As noted by Dr. Thomas O'Toole during his testimony before
the House Veterans Affairs Committee on January 9, 2020, a
growing body of research sheds light on the relationship
between food insecurity and risk factors for poor mental
health and suicide. A new study on ``Association between Food
Insecurity, Mental Health, and Intentions to Leave the U.S.
Army in a Cross-Sectional Sample of U.S. Soldiers'' by
researchers at the USDA Economic Research Service and the
U.S. Army Public Health Center offers additional insight
about linkages between food insecurity, mental health, and
military service. Contributing to the VA's stated top
clinical priority to end veteran suicide and implement a
comprehensive public health approach to reach all veterans,
the VA must step up to provide leadership around a robust
effort to address veteran food insecurity by proactive SNAP
outreach to veterans both within and outside of the VA
system.
A recommendation made by Dr. Colleen Heflin during her
testimony at the May 27, 2021 House Rules Committee
roundtable examination of the hunger crisis among veterans
and military families holds great promise to decrease the
risk of food insecurity during the transition from military
service to civilian life, when many households are more
likely at risk of food insecurity. MAZON urges Congress to
explore this suggestion for the federal government to provide
a targeted transitional benefit to all families leaving
military service below a certain rank. Such a benefit would
act as a stabilizing mechanism and provide much-needed
additional assistance to veterans and their families during a
time when they may experience a greater level of financial
need. Such a transitional benefit, especially one that
utilizes innovative new technologies for benefit delivery and
personalized communications, opens up opportunities to
proactively assess and respond to the whole-person needs of
veterans by building trust and facilitating connections to
other available resources and comprehensive services. In
addition, MAZON supports the distinct, yet often related,
recommendations by Dr. Heflin to better protect veterans with
disabilities from food insecurity.
MAZON was proud to recently sign a Memorandum of Agreement
with the Veterans Health Administration to work
collaboratively to address veteran food insecurity. While
MAZON is excited about this opportunity to provide input,
contribute resources, and collaborate on innovative program
ideas and solutions, the limited commitments to date by the
VA and slow pace of response to a preventable crisis with
multiple negative consequences is deeply distressing.
Additionally, the sporadic oversight by Congress and the lack
of urgency that has been demonstrated in holding federal
agencies accountable to a proactive, robust, and measurable
solution to ending veteran food insecurity must be rectified.
There is great bipartisan concern in Congress about veteran
food insecurity, but the commitment to mandate and provide
funding for proven solutions has unfortunately not matched
the lofty rhetoric.
It is time to recenter the VA's goals and priorities in the
effort to provide a comprehensive response to veteran food
insecurity. The implicit abdication of responsibility by the
federal government to the charitable sector is unsustainable
and dangerous as it shifts attention away from the need to
strengthen and improve access to SNAP and other federal
programs that serve as the frontline response to veteran food
insecurity.
Success should be measured not by how many food pantries
open at VA centers, but rather by how many food pantries
become unnecessary due to veteran households receiving the
support they need and are entitled to through programs like
SNAP. MAZON urges Congress to step up its leadership as a
vital part of this effort by prioritizing the protection and
improvement of SNAP, supporting innovative and effective ways
to better connect food insecure veterans with federal
nutrition assistance programs (including mandating that VA
facilities conduct on-site SNAP eligibility screenings and
application assistance in addition to the food insecurity
screenings currently conducted), bolstering nutrition
assistance support during transition from active duty to
veteran status, strengthening the supports and removing
barriers for food insecure veterans with disabilities, and
centering the experiences and perspectives of veterans with
lived experiences with food insecurity.
The establishment of the Office of Food Security at the VA
as proposed in H.R. 8888 promises to make a substantial
contribution to coordinating and improving agency efforts and
deepening the impact of the federal response to veteran food
insecurity. This progress is long overdue and should
represent just the next step forward among additional
commitments to come.
Veteran food insecurity--indeed, all food insecurity--is a
solvable problem, and the solution lies in mustering the
political will to prioritize and address it. MAZON welcomes
the opportunity to continue to work with
Congress, with all relevant federal agencies, and with VSOs
and other community partners, to build this political will
and do right by those who have bravely served our country. No
veteran should ever have to worry about being able to feed
themselves or those in their family. We owe them much more
than the half-measures and broken promises of our policies
and programs to date.
Hungry veterans cannot eat another report or hearing
transcript. MAZON urges Congress to enact the recommendations
included in H.R. 8888 and identify additional concrete steps
that Congress and the Administration can take now to end the
crisis of veteran food insecurity. We stand ready with
suggestions and with resolve to work in partnership.
Madam Speaker, I urge the rest of my colleagues to support this legislation and ensure no veteran goes hungry, and I reserve the balance of my time.
Madam Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentlewoman from Alaska (Mrs. Peltola), my new friend who is a newly elected Member of Congress. I think this is her first piece of legislation to be brought to the floor, and we are proud it is coming out of the Veterans' Affairs Committee.
Madam Speaker, I ask all my colleagues to join me in passing H.R. 8888, as amended, and I yield back the balance of my time.
