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Dollars And Sense: Keeping America Fed In A Pandemic

More Americans than ever before during the pandemic reported that they are going hungry, according to Census Bureau data examined by The Washington Post.
More Americans than ever before during the pandemic reported that they are going hungry, according to Census Bureau data examined by The Washington Post.

The pandemic has made putting food on the table more difficult than ever. Nearly 8 million more Americans relied on food stamps last year than in 2019. More Americans reported that “they sometimes or often didn’t have enough to eat in the last week,” during the pandemic, according to The Washington Post. With schools closed, getting food to children who need it has become even more complicated. And the problems presented by living in food deserts are compounded.

Now, President Joe Biden is moving to address this issue with a new policy. A congressional program aimed at replacing free school lunch has faltered as the new year started despite being re-upped by Congress in the fall. Now, the new administration is making it simpler for states to figure out which children are eligible for the program.

But there are still holes in the country’s plan to keep at-risk Americans from going hungry. Americans living in rural areas were already dealing with food insecurity at high rates, a problem that has only become worse since COVID-19 began tearing its way through middle America.

Find our last conversation in our “Dollars And Sense” series.

How are struggling Americans putting food on the table? And what are politicians doing to help them?

Copyright 2021 WAMU 88.5. To see more, visit WAMU 88.5.

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Amanda Williams