Biden’s Build Back Better framework: Action against food insecurity
CADE SPENCER: Feeding America shares powerful stories of Americans who have suffered in the hunger crisis. For instance, take the story of Iker, a young student in Phoenix, Arizona. As a kid, Iker describes that he “never gets to rest” as he has significant responsibility in his household to work alongside his sole guardian- his grandmother. For Iker, the summer is a time of turmoil, a period of two months where the free meals provided by school are absent, replaced by a single meal per day at his local food bank. Thus, for him, the return of school each Fall is more than the start of an academic year: it is a return to food security. Iker’s story, while tragic, is a micro example of the hunger crisis we face as a nation. In the past year, 29.6 million children, like Iker, relied on their public schools for free or reduced-price food twice a day. Access to nutritious food is a human right and our nation’s future should not be victims of an avoidable crisis.
In President Biden’s Build Back Better framework, he declared his administration’s intention to address the food insecurity crisis. The Build Back Better plan is an attempt to strengthen and empower the “backbone” of our country, and the children of today, who are the leaders of tomorrow, are an invaluable part of this demographic. Therefore, the framework’s child nutrition policies make an impressive headway on combating food insecurity in the U.S., taking concrete action on an issue that is difficult to reconcile. With a primary focus on the development of food security, President Biden’s plan is in line with our goals for promoting equality, action on climate change, and generating opportunity for all.
As defined by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), food insecurity is a house-hold level economic and social condition of limited or uncertain access to adequate food. The primary causes of food insecurity are identified as poverty, unemployment, unaffordable housing, and lack of healthcare access. In 2020, 14.8 percent of U.S. households with children were impacted by food insecurity. Therefore, around 38.3 million people lived in food-insecure households in the past year. Of those that experienced food insecurity, minority communities were impacted most significantly, reporting food insecurity at a rate double the rate of food insecurity of white households. Consequently, food security is best understood as an intersectional issue, impacted by socio-economic inequality, racial injustice, food inaccessibility, and health inequality.
In total, the Build Back Better framework will invest $10 billion into federal child nutrition programs, such as the National School Lunch Program. The majority of these programs will be administered via institutions of public education. For students like Iker, the services of public schools are crucial to their food security, however, the summer months are then enabled to be a time of vulnerability. To address this unique summer crisis, a portion of the $10 billion investment will fund two years of a nationwide Summer Electronic Benefit Transfer Program, starting in Summer 2023. The Summer EBT program permits qualified households to receive $65 per month during the non-academic year, adjusted for inflation. Under the Build Back Better framework, the USDA estimates that 29 million children will benefit from the expanded program. Furthermore, according to the USDA, the Summer EBT program has demonstrated an ability to reduce the worst impacts of child food insecurity by 30 percent, portraying an encouraging rate of efficacy.
To invest in the services of public schools, President Biden’s plan additionally allocates funds to the Community Eligibility Provision. The CEP is a federal program that enables public institutions in high need areas to provide free meals, breakfast and lunch, to their students daily. Consequently, the CEP program will be funded at an enhanced rate for the next five years, enabling the program to expand its reach to an additional 8.7 million students. In order to support the program, $250 million has been allocated to fund innovation in school cuisine, and $30 million has been allocated to develop school kitchen infrastructure.
At its core, the Build Back Better plan is an effort to foster our nation’s growth through investments in foundational infrastructure and social services. For students like Iker, and our nation as a whole, there is no better investment than in the security of our youth. In the crisis of food security, the 29.6 million children impacted are burdened in their educational, social, and physical growth. Therefore, to build back better, our government’s action against food insecurity should be understood as a non-negotiable facet of the plan and all future applicable legislation.
Cade Spencer is a freshman in the College with prospective majors in Government and English and a minor in Spanish.