Food insecurity held steady from 2011 to 2012, which is to say, it's still unacceptably high, having risen in 2008 as the recession slammed the nation's workers. According to a USDA report, there are 49 million people in the
14.5 percent of households that experienced food insecurity at some point in 2012, and the most vulnerable are not fully protected:
- About 7 million of the 17.6 million food insecure households in 2012 had very low food security, with household members skipping meals or taking other steps to reduce what they ate because they lacked resources.
- Some 21.6 percent of children lived in food insecure households, with about half of them experiencing food insecurity themselves.
- The share of households with seniors who are food insecure appears to be trending upward, rising from 7.5 percent in 2009 to 8.8 percent in 2012.
This is the backdrop against which House Republicans want to make deep cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, a program that saves many families from food insecurity, or at least keeps them from experiencing very low food security.
Tell Congress: Oppose all cuts to food stamps.