Stein Pledges to End Hunger in America
October 7th, Lexington, Massachusetts
Dr. Jill Stein, who is seeking the Green Party nomination for President, said today that she endorsed the call today by anti-hunger groups to end hunger in America.
“There is no reason for anyone to go hungry in America. The only reason we have hunger is because of a bipartisan political establishment more concerned about the profits of Wall Street, agribusiness and war profiteers than they are on meeting the needs of children.”
“My Power to the People agenda is a path to full employment and an end to poverty and hunger. The US should also join the rest of the world in enacting a legal right to food, along with a right to health care, adequate housing, a college education and living wage job,” said Dr. Stein, a Harvard-trained physician. (See Stein’s plan www.jill2016.com/plan)
“As a doctor, I understand the devastating impact that hunger can have on a child’s development. The problems created by the lack of an adequate diet can follow a child for the rest of their life,” Stein noted. “Children need not only adequate calories, they need fresh fruits and vegetables, not only for health, but for good brain function that learning depends on. If we want to educate kids, especially those in economically stressed communities, we must provide nutritious food as an essential first step in combating poverty.”
President Obama had pledged to end childhood poverty in America by 2015 but unfortunately made little progress.
“The best job creation program is a Green New Deal, an emergency transition to a green economy that meets our urgent needs, ecologically and socially. Not only will it reduce the negative impacts of climate change but it will put tens of millions of Americans to work installing solar panels and wind turbines, creating a healthy sustainable food system, building mass transit and inter-city rail roads, and meeting our needs for housing and social services” noted Stein.
The Food Research Action Center re-released their Action Plan to End Hunger today, outlining 7 key areas where action is needed. The Plan includes strengthening the federal SNAP and TANF programs, including raising SNAP (food stamp) benefits to a more realistic level. Stein said she supported free school lunch and breakfast for all American children, eliminating the stigma that reduces participation especially among older children. Dr. Stein also called for making school meals locally sourced, to help jump start healthy sustainable food systems.