Toward an End to Hunger in America

368 Pages·1998·0.86 MB·English

by  Peter K. Eisinger

title: Toward an End to Hunger in America
author: Eisinger, Peter K.
publisher: Brookings Institution Press
isbn10 | asin: 0815722826
print isbn13: 9780815722823
ebook isbn13: 9780585032016
language: English
Food relief--United States, Hunger--United
subject
States.
publication date: 1998
lcc: HV696.F6E47 1998eb
ddc: 363.8/83
Food relief--United States, Hunger--United
subject:
States.
Page iii
Toward
an End to
Hunger in
America
Peter K. Eisinger
BROOKINGS INSTITUTION PRESS
Washington, D. C.
Page iv
ABOUT BROOKINGS
The Brookings Institution is a private nonprofit organization devoted
to research, education, and publication on important issues of
domestic and foreign policy. Its principal purpose is to bring
knowledge to bear on current and emerging policy problems. The
Institution maintains a position of neutrality on issues of public
policy. Interpretations or conclusions in publications of the Brookings
Institution Press should be understood to be solely those of the
authors.
Copyright © 1998
THE BROOKINGS INSTITUTION
1775 Massachusetts Avenue, N. W., Washington, D. C. 20036
All rights reserved
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication data
Eisinger, Peter K.
Toward an end to hunger in America / Peter K. Eisinger.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-8157-2282-6 (cloth: alk. paper)
ISBN 0-8157-2281-8 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Food reliefUnited States. 2. HungerUnited States. I. Title.
HV696.F6 E47 1998 98-25392
363.8'83ddc21 CIP
9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements
of the
American National Standard for Information SciencesPermanence of
Paper
for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1984
Typeset in Adobe Garamond
Composition by
R. Lynn Rivenbark
Macon, Georgia
Printed by
R. R. Donnelley and Sons
Harrisonburg, Virginia
Page v
Acknowledgments
I wrote most of this book at the La Follette Institute of Public Affairs
at the University of Wisconsin Madison, though final revisions were
completed at my new institution, Wayne State University's College of
Urban, Labor and Metropolitan Affairs. The project took a good part
of the decade of the 1990s, during which time the La Follette Institute
provided constant support and stimulation. It is a wonderful place to
work. For one thing, the institute provided me with summer support
and travel grants to pursue my research. In addition, it paid for a small
army of graduate research assistants, including, in more or less
chronological order from the very beginning of the project, Chris
Stangel, Kristin Stout, Vicki Flood, Brett Desnoyers, Chad Reuter,
and Armando Mota. I am grateful for their conscientious help. I also
benefited from a La Follette institution, the Public Affairs Workshop,
or PAWS, a faculty seminar devoted to dissecting works in progress.
Nearly all my La Follette colleagues attended these sessions, and no
one was shy about suggesting how to improve the research under
discussion. Bob Haveman, Karen Holden, Karl Kronebusch, Andrew
Reschovsky, John Karl Scholz, and Michael Wiseman were
particularly helpful. I am grateful as well to the Graduate School at
the University of Wisconsin for providing a semester's research leave
during the course of my writing.
Page vi
Several other people read and commented on parts of the manuscript,
including Erica Eisinger, who made a crucial suggestion at the
revision stage, Dick Merelman and Jane Voichik at Wisconsin,
Christine Olson at Cornell, Gary Bickel at USDA, Kathryn Porter at
the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, and Larry Brown and John
Cook at Tufts University. The latter two scholars graciously opened
the files of the Tufts Center on Hunger, Poverty and Nutrition Policy
to me in the summer of 1995. I also want to thank Representative
Tony Hall's staffers, Jennifer Coken and Max Finberg, for making
available to me the archives of the House Select Committee on
Hunger.
Alice Honeywell, an old friend, edited the manuscript with her usual
circumspect care, which I appreciate. Finally, I want to thank the
Brookings editorial peopleNancy Davidson, Janet Walker, and Susan
Woollenfor their support, good judgment, and nice design sense.
Page vii
For Erica
Page ix
Contents
1 The Problem of Hunger in the United States 1
The Presumption of Abundance 3
Solving the Hunger Puzzle 5
2 Defining Hunger 9
Defining Hunger in the American Context 10
Hunger as Malnutrition 12
Food Sufficiency and Food Security 15
Definition and the Culture of Abundance 18
3 Measuring Hunger in the United States 19
Measurement Issues 21
Early Measurement Efforts 23
A More Complex View of Hunger Prevalence 27
Conclusions 35
4 The Food Stamp Program 36
Building the Food Stamp Program 38
Whose Interests Should the Food Stamp Program Serve? 41
Fraud and Abuse 45

Page x
Participation in the Food Stamp Program 49
Adequacy Issues 53
Conclusions 56
5 Filling in the Gaps: The Targeted Food Assistance 57
Programs
Supplemental Food Programs 58
The Child Nutrition Programs 63
Commodity Assistance 70
Food Assistance as Block Grants 71
Understanding the Federal Food Assistance System 73
6 Hunger on the Congressional Agenda 75
Getting on the National Political Agenda 76
The Senate Select Committee 78
The House Select Committee 84
The Significance of the House Select Committee 87
Conclusions 89
7 The Anti-Hunger Advocacy Group Network 91
The Organized Anti-Hunger Community 93
Transcending Differences 97
Speaking with One Voice 105
8 Charitable Food Assistance: The Volunteer Sector 107