White House hosts first conference on hunger in decades

 Speaking at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center, President Biden called for the U.S. to build on the measures passed under his administration meant to improve financial security for families, such as the expanded child tax credit and the Inflation Reduction Act.

Biden also proclaimed his aim of ending hunger in the U.S. by 2030.

“This goal’s within our reach. Let’s look at how far we’ve come on child poverty. Thirty years ago, as was referenced, 1 in 4 children lived below the poverty line. Today, 1 in 20 live below the poverty line. So I know we can tackle hunger as well,” said Biden.

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said the conference will seek to identify nutrition problems within the U.S. and map out immediate recommendations to address these issues. He stated that the food insecurity issues that former President Franklin D. Roosevelt once noted at a nutrition conference in 1941 are still relevant today.

“The first White House conference on food and nutrition more than 50 years ago made significant progress towards reducing food insecurity. Today, USDA runs nutrition assistance programs that serve 1 in 4 Americans every year. However, food and nutrition insecurity still remains unacceptably high,” Vilsack said.