Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Alarm Grows Over Hunger Crisis While Cuts To SNAP Aid Considered
Reuters: U.S. Food Banks Warn Of Strain As Republicans Seek Food Aid Cuts
Food banks across the United States are straining to meet spiking demand as high food costs and shrinking federal benefits drive scores of Americans to depend on free groceries, just as Republicans seek to narrow access to food assistance. President Joe Biden, who this week criticized Republicans' proposals to further cut benefits in order to shrink the country's deficit, pledged last year to end hunger in the U.S. by 2030. (Douglas, 4/21)
Reuters: Return To Pandemic Hunger Levels Could Signal Economic Fragility
As economists and investors scour data on inflation, jobs, housing, banking and other bellwether indicators to determine whether the United States is headed for a recession, a visit to the nation’s largest food-bank warehouse offers some ominous clues. More than half of the shelves at the Atlanta Community Food Bank are bare, in part because of supply-chain issues, but mostly because demand for food assistance is as high as it was during the COVID-19 pandemic, the nonprofit’s executives said. They said two in five people seeking food assistance in the Atlanta region this year have not done so before. (Shiffman and Douglas, 4/23)
The Washington Post: Biden Is Running Out Of Time To Avoid Debt Ceiling Trouble
President Biden is running out of time and options to avert an unprecedented default on the federal debt, as House Republicans make increasingly clear that they are willing to court economic catastrophe unless they secure major policy concessions from the White House. (Stein, 4/22)
In related news from Alaska —
AP: 'People Are Suffering': Food Stamp Woes Worsen Alaska Hunger
Thousands of Alaskans who depend on government assistance have waited months for food stamp benefits, exacerbating a long-standing hunger crisis worsened by the pandemic, inflation and the remnants of a typhoon that wiped out stockpiles of fish and fishing equipment. The backlog, which began last August, is especially concerning in a state where communities in far-flung areas, including Alaska Native villages, are often not connected by roads. They must have food shipped in by barge or airplane, making the cost of even basic goods exorbitant. Around 13% of the state’s roughly 735,000 residents received Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits — or SNAP — in July, before the troubles began. (Thiessen and Bohrer, 4/23)
