Now we have the opportunity to provide each one of these families with a card that looks like this. There are, as I said, nearly 30 million American children who are in free-and-reduced-lunch status in schools.Īt the end of the school year, there is no program, other than the summer feeding program, which impacted and affected several million of those 30 million children. First, we are going to make permanent this incredible and historic effort to feed kids during the summer months. There are three key investments for nutrition and food security in the American Families Plan. We have the opportunity, over the course of the next several months, as Congress considers the American Jobs Plan and the American Family Plan, to cement those - those results and to actually build upon them. It is a result of extending SNAP, as we did in the American Rescue Plan creating a Summer EBT program that will institute opportunities for nearly 30 million children to have access to nutrition during the summer months increasing our commitment to WIC and basically making a down payment, if you will, on hunger reduction. That’s a remarkable drop in a six-month period. Today, as a result of the investments under the American Rescue Plan, we now know that hunger has dipped to 8 percent of America’s population. When the American Rescue Plan was enacted, hunger in the United States was at 14 percent of our population, which was an incredibly high number.
And certainly, we’ve seen the impact of that during the course of the pandemic. When you understand that 25 percent of America’s workforce is directly or indirectly impacted by the food and ag industry, that it represents a significant percentage of our GDP, that educational achievement is somewhat dependent on youngsters having healthy and nutritious food as they begin their school year and school day, and the fact that it is a noted effort in reducing poverty, food and nutrition security becomes an important issue. And you may think that that is just about food and nutrition security, but, in fact, it’s about a lot more than that. I’m here primarily to talk about food and nutrition security.
It’s certainly a pleasure to be here today with all of you. SECRETARY VILSACK: Jen, thanks very much. With that, I will turn it over to the Secretary, who will be - take a few questions once he concludes his remarks. Prior to his appointment - or nomination and confirmation, I should say - Secretary Vilsack served two terms as the Governor of Iowa, in the Iowa State Senate, and as the Mayor of Mount Pleasant, Iowa.
#PSAKI PRESS CONFERENCE FREE#
Under his leadership, USDA introduced healthier food choices in school meals to benefit 50 million children, and expanded free and reduced-price lunches for millions of kids. In those years, Secretary Vilsack fought to put Americans back to work by investing in rural infrastructure, renewable energy, and large-scale conservation partnerships. We have another special guest joining us today: Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack.Īs you all know, this is Secretary Vilsack’s second turn at the Department of Agriculture, which he led in the Obama-Biden administration from 2009 through 2017, making him the longest-serving member of President Obama’s Cabinet. Get Involved Show submenu for “Get Involved””.The White House Show submenu for “The White House””.Office of the United States Trade Representative.
Office of Science and Technology Policy.Executive Offices Show submenu for “Executive Offices””.Administration Show submenu for “Administration””.
0 kommentar(er)
