Don’t Call Retreat in the War on Hunger

This week in U.S. News and World Report, Patricia M. Anderson, Kristin F. Butcher, Hilary W. Hoynes, and Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach discussed food insecurity and the role of the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program in addressing the issue. The piece explores why food insecurity rates have been so high since the Great Recession, which can have long-term effects on health and economic well being. The authors argue that “we already have a program that has been shown to work at combating food insecurity and the consequences of inadequate nutrition” and suggest “these facts are worth contemplating as Congress resumes the fight about whether and how to fund it.” Later this year, The Hamilton Project will release a discussion paper by Whitmore Schanzenbach calling for a modernization of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP.