While getting yet another earful of “Obamacare Lite” coverage by the press, I began considering what the Trump administration means for food access. Proposed budget cuts may have a serious impact on the food available to children, people with disabilities, and seniors.
Less food?
Mick Mulvaney, director of the Office of Management and Budget, recently talked to the press about proposed budget cuts. A reporter asked Mulvaney about the possible withdrawal of funding from a Pennsylvania public school program that gives food to about 800 children.
“[After-school programs] are supposed to help kids who can’t— who don’t — get fed at home, get fed, so they do better in school,” Mulvaney answered. “Guess what? There’s no demonstrable evidence they’re actually doing that.”
A second reporter asked about cuts to Meals on Wheels, an organization that delivers food to “the elderly, frail, disabled, convalescing, and others who cannot provide proper nutrition for themselves.”
The OMB director argued that this budget cut is “probably one of the most compassionate things [the government] can do.” He continued, “We’re not going to ask you for your hard-earned money anymore, unless we can guarantee to you that that money’s actually going to be used in a proper function.”
Note that we have yet “no way to know” whether, or how much, the funding that Meals on Wheels depends on will be cut. Regardless, Mulvaney voices the financial concerns characteristic of Republicans’ criticism of big government. And, yes, those concerns may very well be addressed by curbing meals for hungry Americans.
What would less food mean?
Programs like those in PA schools and organizations like Meals on Wheels exist for a reason: American children, adults, and seniors are hungry. Every year, Meals on Wheels alone serves hot meals to 2.4 million.
More than half of public assistance goes to working families, (including those who voted for Trump), so those who benefit from food programs are not simply lazy. Instead, these people are, for whatever reason, physically or financially unable to get the food they need.
You’re a reader of Spoon, so I probably don’t have to explain the importance of food. But, just to reiterate: insufficient food intake means lower grades, lower attendance, and lower focus in children, and stronger feelings of isolation and more accidents among seniors.
So, how does our food future look? Not good. In fact, pretty terrible.
What can you do about the proposed budget, and all future pieces of legislation under the Trump government? Contact your representatives, and donate a lunch break to volunteer. Political affiliation aside, you have to admit: a future with less food is unacceptable.