Hayes: Hunger among veterans ‘disturbingly rampant’
Seaman denied food stamps said he lived like a ‘caveman’
Navy veteran Tim Keefe grew so thin after being denied food stamps that he had to punch seven holes in his belt to keep his pants up.
“My condition devolved to that of a caveman — nothing better than that; foraging took up much of my time,” Keefe told U.S.
Rep Jahana Hayes and her nutrition subcommittee during a hearing this week.
“When you have gone a couple days without food, your whole being cries out for it — it’s desperation I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy.”
Hayes, who chairs the House Subcommittee on Nutrition, Oversight and Department Operations, said while Keefe eventually did qualify for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, a combination of bureaucracy and stigma keeps some 60 percent of eligible veterans like him from receiving federal food benefits.
“Food insecurity is disturbingly rampant among our veteran population,” Hayes said during a virtual hearing on Wednesday, one day before Veterans Day.
“It is unacceptable that in America today we cannot ensure that veterans do not struggle with food insecurity after the completion of their service.”
The problem not only persists with veterans’ families but also with active military — especially those in the junior enlisted ranks, Hayes said.
Among the solutions for military families, witnesses told Hayes’ subcommittee, is to not count the military housing allowance as income for determining SNAP eligibility.
The solution for veterans making the transition from military life is to encourage the Veterans Administration to connect them to SNAP benefits as part of their adjustment to civilian life.
“We recognize this is an issue that is often hidden, which is understandable, because struggling military and veteran families do not want to call attention to their situations,” said Mia Hubbard, vice president of programs for the Los Angeles-based nonprofit MAZON, during testimony at Hayes’ hearing. “But it is a crisis nonetheless.”
Hayes, a two-term Democrat who represents the Danbury area and Connecticut’s 5th Congressional District, asked a researcher how to break the stigma and reach more hungry military families.
“They have their own unique culture, and I do believe that the way we approach them to help them needs to be unique to their culture (because) most veterans I’ve met don’t want to feel like they are getting a handout,” said Nipa Kamdar, a nurse practitioner who has published studies about veterans and hunger.
“But if they understand this is assistance that they have earned, that they deserve, and it is presented to them respectfully and honorably, those are the approaches that we need to make.”
U.S. Rep. Don Bacon, a Nebraska Republican and a decorated Air Force officer who is the ranking member of Hayes’ subcommittee, suggested that part of the problem likely could be solved by adjusting the pay for junior enlisted military that “really hasn’t been reviewed in decades.”
“I’m going to write a letter to (Department of Defense) to get their position on this,” Bacon said. “We need to know if this is a real issue … and if it is, the military needs to say that it is and give us the scope of the problem, and we need to figure out how we are going to fix this.”
“It is unacceptable that in America today we cannot ensure that veterans do not struggle with food insecurity after the completion of their service.”
U.S. Rep Jahana Hayes
Another member of Hayes’ subcommittee, fellow Democrat Jim McGovern from Massachusetts, said hunger among veterans and active military was an obvious and overdue issue requiring congressional action.
“For anyone to imply that there is not a problem is ignoring reality (because) we have been hearing about this for a long time,” McGovern said. “The question is whether we are going to do anything about it or whether we are going to raise questions as to whether this is all real. It is real.”
The Los Angeles advocate Hubbard agreed.
“Military and veterans’ families have been allowed to grow hungry on your watch, and your inaction has allowed this situation to persist for years and to grow worse over the course of the pandemic,” Hubbard told Hayes’ subcommittee.
“(This inaction) has contributed to the worsening of diet-related diseases, loss in productivity and even spikes in suicide rates.”
Hayes said the hearing’s goal was to “gather information from our witnesses and search for solutions to ensure no veteran or service member feels the sting of hunger.”