Edwards Releases Plan To Combat Hunger
Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards on Wednesday released his plan to fight domestic hunger and called on Congress to immediately take action to fund programs that provide food services for millions of Americans.
"This is an issue that we can actually do something about," Edwards said, also asking Americans to do their part at an individual level. "I think we have a moral responsibility as a country to stand up and take action to where no man, woman or child in this country should feel hungry."
Edwards' six-point proposal urges Congress to pass a farm bill that would provide food stamps and support food banks. It asks lawmakers to reform the food stamps program to help more families get more assistance.
The plan also tells politicians in Washington to quickly provide $5.1 billion to help low income families pay their winter heating bills to free up extra money for food.
Edwards, a former North Carolina senator, said he would help low-income children get more access to healthy meals, support programs that provide meals for the elderly, and develop a new program that would identify and provide for neighborhoods that don't have full-service supermarkets.
More than 35.5 million people in the United States went hungry in 2006, according to a Department of Agriculture study. Of those, about one-third reported they had "very low food security," meaning they had a substantial disruption in the amount of food they typically eat.
Edwards said that while the hunger problem won't go away overnight, the nation needs new leadership to address it.
"If we have a president who's committed to it, who can take responsibility, we can move (that number) significantly and quickly," he said.
Edwards has brought to the presidential campaign trail a populist message defined by several proposals targeting the nation's poor. Among them, plans for universal health care, raising the minimum wage and revitalizing the economies of rural areas.
After announcing his domestic hunger plan, Edwards and his three children left home and took a five-minute drive in his hybrid sport utility vehicle to a Carrboro food pantry.
The family unloaded turkeys - some a little too heavy for Edwards' 7-year-old son, Jack. They also handed out meals to families and helped load bags of food into cars.
Jack and his 9-year-old sister, Emma Claire, talked with children their own age while older daughter Cate, 25, helped pack supplies. Edwards said his wife, Elizabeth, was at home amid days-long preparations for Thanksgiving dinner.
Although he acknowledged that campaigning didn't allow him much time to volunteer in places like a food shelter, Edwards launched a "One Can Change America" campaign.
It encourages his supporters to volunteer at a soup kitchen, donate canned food or toys, and ask their friends, co-workers and others to do the same.
"We don't have to wait until 2009 to create change," he said.