From our Witnesses Today and then the hearing will be open to questions. Members will be recognized in order of seniority, alternating between majority and minority members and in order of arrival for those members who have joined us after the hearing was called to order. When you are recognized, you will be asked to unmute your microphone and have five minutes to ask your questions or make the comment. If you are not speaking, i ask that you remain muted in order to minimize background noise. In order to get as many questions as possible. The timer will stay consistently visible on your screen. In consultation with the Ranking Member, and pursuant to rule 11 b, i want to make members of the subcommittee aware that other members of the full committee may join us today. Ill now begin with my opening statement. Thank you all for joining me today for this very important hearing, which will help our subcommittee better understand the Food Security challenges that are our nations veterans and Service Members face. This conversation is especially significant, given that tomorrow we observe veterans day, a day for us to honor those who serve, and their willingness to protect our nation. I hope this hearing helps to highlight the reality that too many veterans face when their service has ended. Food insecurity is disturbingly rampant among our veteran population, on average, about 1. 2 million households with veterans participate in s. N. A. P. Each year, tragically, studies estimate a substantial portion of veterans, as high as 60 do not participate in the program. Food insecurity, particularly impacts veterans who have recently left service, had lower final pay rates or live in rural or low income areas that have limited access to food. Their hunger can also be exacerbated by mental and physical health challenges, including servicerelated disabilities. It is unacceptable that in america today, we cannot ensure that veterans do not struggle with Food Insecurity after the completion of their services. This problem does not spare our active duty Service Members either, who despite working everyday to serve this country, face the same challenges with Food Insecurity. According to usda, 22,000 s. N. A. P. Households include Service Members in 2019 and it is likely that number is only the tip of the iceberg as many military families face barriers to accessing snap. Service members and veterans who face different barriers and situations sorry, Service Members and veterans face different barriers and situations that can cause or worsen Food Insecurity. Some of these barriers are common among food insecure americans where others are unique and require targeted solutions. No person should ever go hungry in america, however it is especially galling foods those who have dedicated their lives to serving our nation struggle to put food on the table. Today is not a hearing to review or investigate any particular bill or piece of legislation. But rather, we will gather information from the witnesses and solutions to ensure no veteran or Service Member feels the sting of hunger. I would like to thank this opportunity to thank all of our veteran and see Service Members. Let me extend a heartfelt thank you to each and every member of this committee for all the work you have done. We look forward to hearing from each of you in working to address this important issue. Id now like to welcome the distinguished Ranking Member, gentlemen from nebraska, mr. Bacon for any opening remarks he would like to give. Thank you, madam chair, ill keep my comments short. I echo your comments about veterans day, thank all our veterans listening, 6 of our population are veteran community and always need people to serve this great country and thank those that have, appreciate that. Referencing one of the madam chairs comments, i am also concerned. We have veterans come out, having a hard time making ends meet. I think we should be doing everything we can to help transition these folks to trades, you know, the various, with such a shortness of trade programs right now, whether truck drivers, welders, carpetenteres theres opportunities to put them in these really well paying jobs, and as far as service men or women who may be needing s. N. A. P. I would like to hear from the military itself, is this a problem, we could have got one of our chief Master Sergeants of the air force or equivalent in the army or navy to hear from them, what are they hearing from their e1s, e. 2s, e3s, or j1 staff just to hear the proof from military scene here because if this is a more rampant problem, the military need to see address it and we can adjust pay models to make this right. Theres been discussion about doing that but this is really an area where the personal subcommittee probably needs to be born into and find solutions within the military to solve. So with that, i yield back, look forward to hearing what our panelists are saying, by the way did try to invite someone from dod here and they did not take the invite to get their perspective on us. I thank you for the opportunity. Thank you, thank you Ranking Member and we will continue to look for solutions that you are seeking. I do believe d. O. D. Has a policy they dont testify on mixed panels so well collect information from this group and see what we can do moving forward. I now, im not sure if the chair or the Ranking Member are here and would like to offer any Opening Statements. I dont see either mr. Chairman or mr. Thompson so ill move on. The chair would request that other members submit their Opening Statements for the record, so witnesses may begin their testimony and to ensure there is ample time for questions. Without objection, the chair is authorized at any time to declare the subcommittee in recess subject to the call of the chair. And now, introduce the witnesses. Im pleased to welcome such a distinguished panel of witnesses to our hearing today. Our witnesses bring to our hearing a wide variety of experience and expertise, and i thank you all for joining us. Our first witness today is ms. Mia hubbard, who is vicepresident of programs for m. A. S. O. N. A jewish response to hunger, provides advocacy efforts and has been with the Organization Since 1993. Our next witness is ms. Denise hollywood chief Program Officer for Blue Star Families, who serves military families. In her role, ms. Hollywood manages membership and volunteer programs, policy decision and delivery, and more. Received education from Cornell University and proudly served for 20 years. Our third witness is dr. Nipa kandar, a Nurse Practitioner and nurse scientist who published several Food Insecurity studies, holds a faculty appointment at Baylor College of medicine but testifying today as a private citizen. I hope i said your name right. Our final witness today is mr. Tim keith. He is a veteran who served in the United States navy. After being injured at work, and completed all measured included in the Workers Compensation process, mr. Keith found himself unable to return to work and fell on hard times s. N. A. P. Has served as a lifeline for him, as it does for many other veterans in similar situations. Welcome to all of our witnesses. We will now proceed to hearing your testimony. You will each have five minutes. The timer should be visible on your screen and will count down to zero, at which point your time has expired. Ms. Hubbard, please begin when you are ready. Thank you, chair woman, Ranking Member bacon and distinguished members of the subcommittee, appreciate the opportunity to testify before you today representing my zone mazon, a jewish response to hunger. This problem never should of happened in the first place, let alone with little action or attention to address it. There is just no reason military veterans or families should experience the painful reality of hunger. As i will share with you, there are several straight forward actions that congress, the administration and federal agencies can take to address this preventable problem. Mazons work is grounded in jewish values, to pursue justice and respect the inherent dignity of every person. We are guided by a central belief, regardless of a persons circumstance, no one deserves to go hungry. Weve made it a priority to spotlight issues in populations where Large Organizations and government have yet to turn their focus. For nearly a decade, diligently led the National Efforts to call attention to and address Food Insecurity. In 2012 when we first became aware of the large number of military families struggling, we made it an issue to explore policy solutions. We thought it would be a quick fix but here we are nearly a decade later facing a crisis. Time and again, my colleagues have been ignored and dismissed raising this issue, both by policy makers and some in the antihunger community. We understand this is an issue often hidden which is understandable since struggling military and veteran families do not want to call attention to their situation but it is a crisis nonetheless so we therefore call on you to advance policy solutions. Your leadership, and that of the administration and Agency Officials is urgently needed to chart a different course. Military and veteran families have been allowed to go 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, which has contributed to the worsening of dietrelated disguise, loss in productivity, and even spikes in suicide rates. While the hearing and my testimony will address the issue of insecurity for both current and serving military and veteran families we must be clear these are two different populations with distinct challenges, needs and opportunities for policy change so my proposals are twofold, including a basic allowance provision in the 2022 National Defense authorization act. In 2019, following years of responding to objection about military familys access to s. N. A. P. , my colleague, josh protas, vp of public policy, advised this proposal to address those objections and it worked, the proposal now has broad bipartisan support in both house and senate as well as support from several service, antihunger organizations across the country. We just need your help to get it across the finish line. In addition, the Administration Must take executive a to ensure Service Members basic housing does not count as income for eligibility from federal food programs. Collaboration with the administration on the full scope of military hunger and publish comprehensive data. Congress should reexamine military pay levels, acknowledgic the composition and needs of americas military changed over time and changes in pay and benefits not responded adequately. For veterans, Congress Must protect and improve snap. Success should not be measured by how many food pantries operate at va centers, but rather how many food pantries are unnecessary because veterans are getting access to s. N. A. P. We should integrate information about federal food programs into the Transition Assistance Program and new solid start veteran Suicide Prevention program and finally, listen to the voices of veteran and military families. Real stories from people like our witness we will hear from today, tim keith, are essential to understand the needs and barriers so we can craft the right solutions. From mazon, this is a matter of mission readiness, true retention and future recruitment and as policy makers, your role is essential and urgent. We welcome the opportunity to work with you in advancing these recommendations and i look forward to your questions. Thank you. Thank you, ms. Hubbard and right under five minutes. Good job. I now recognize ms. Hollywood, if you would unmute and please begin when you are ready. My name is Denise Hollywood, chief programs officer for Blue Star Families, Largest National Nonprofit Organization supporting military and veteran families. We are nationally recognized for military Family Lifestyle survey, Largest Survey of its kind covering a wide variety of topics impacting veteran and military families, today i share with you what our surveys revealed about Food Insecurity, in 2020, 14 of enlisted, active duty family respondents and 12 of veteran family respondents reported low or very low Food Security. While a greater proportion of junior enlisted family respondents indicated they were food insecure, this issue was not limited to the junior enlisted ranks. Our data also suggests that military families of color are struggling with Food Insecurity at higher levels than white peers. Blue star familys early findings align with existing research regarding wealth inequality in the United States. It is worth emphasizing that in the military community, Food Insecurity is an issue that primarily affects families rather than single, unattached Service Members. We know from our research that several intersecting structural challenges contribute to military familys financial stress, including Military Spouse unemployment, the lack of affordable child care and high, out of pocket housing expenses. Each of these factors and others can under mine a military familys Financial Readiness skb contribute to Food Insecurity, Military Spouses unemployment was seven times the National Unemployment rate and has not decreases significantly since 2012. Crucially, the lack of child care continues to be a major contributor, with 34 of active duty spouses who are unemployed but needed or wanted to work citing the high cost of child care as a barrier to their employment. Military Family Financial stress is further complicated by out of pocket housing expenses. Today, basic allowance for housing is 95 of local area rent. We see in our data that families who prioritize their childrens school, which are most military families, often end up paying significantly more out of pocket than dods cost share estimates. Additionally, our data shows that barriers, both bureaucratic and psychological exist which prevent military families from accessing federal assistance programs. Financial stress and the stigma surrounding needing support does not end when a family leaves the military. To the contrary, military familys Financial Difficulties can be compounded by transitionrelated challenges, there by leading to veteran Food Insecurity. Creating petitions for resilience and destigmatizing need for assistance will help veterans down stream. The need is great, between may of 2020 and 2021, blue star hosted many veteran Food Insecurity related events, Grocery Store gift card events, drive through events, we hosted several thousand military families through these programs however we must address the underlying factors relating to Food Insecurity among military families. These issues are persistent and take time to resolve, we urge you to amend section 403 k, of the code for basic allowance for housing deh when counted as income eligibility for the supplemental assistance program, s. N. A. P. And other benefits. Including deh and allowance for s. N. A. P. Eligibility creates unnecessary barrier for military families as the allowance is untaxable portion of a Service Members pay that allows for equitable housing compensation, addressing this barrier would help those struggle to get make ends meet during the pandemic and boost the Financial Resilience of those military families. I would like to thank again the distinguished members of the subcommittee for efforts to eliminate military and veteran hunger. Those who make significant sacrifices for our country should never struggle to put food on the table for their families. Thank you for your testimony. Doctor, please continue when ready. Thank you, distinguished members of the subcommittee to allow me to share my work with you. As a Nurse Practitioner and researcher, i recognize Food Insecurity or lack of access to healthy food is a threat to the veteran whose have served our nation. Nearly all the veterans who participate in my research, as to what i do with the information openly share. This opportunity to testify before the members of the subcommittee allows me to directly communicate what i learned from them with those who have the power to make change. Before i begin, i would like to clarify that although i am employed by the Veterans Health administration and have a faculty appointment at bayl 0, r college of medicine, today im presenting as a private citizen, the views are not mine and do not express the views of the Baylor College of medicine. One approach to Food Insecurity is a quantifiable number to capture the scope, using data from the food examination survey, i learned veterans who are food insecure are almost three times more likely to suffer from Food Insecurity compared to nonveterans with similar socioeconomic characteristics. My team and i also found veterans dealing with low Food Insecurity have analyst 4 fold increase in odds of suicidal ideation, although these statistics provide evidence that Food Insecurity is a serious threat, they do not capture the evidence that veterans are food insecure. For that, i listen to veterans who suffer to from Food Insecurity, and use names to protect their identity. Ed is a 39yearold marine veteran who reminds me that no one deserves to be food insecure, nearly all the veterans suffer with other basic needs like housing, transportation and food care, hard decisions how to spend their next 20. As sheila, single mother of three explained, how much im spending on gas affects how much i have on food. Gas goes over food. I ask if she ever skips a meal, she says i skip out on meals plenty of times, plenty of days. Too many veterans ration their personal food intake to ensure children and others in their family do not go hungry. Some, like hayley, 35yearold army veteran and single mother of three, tried to increase their food supply. Hayley applied for s. N. A. P. Four times but never qualified, ultimately stopped applying, she said ive been burned so many times i dont try anymore. Signs of desolation by other veterans when their tries fell short, for sara, 34yearold army veteran, finding help was a matter of luck. Years ago, life was gratefully rescued on the bust one day when he noticed her army t shirt, after asking if she needed help, directed her to a veteran shelter where she was fed and connected to resources. This was a major turning point in her life, but would it happen if sara and her fellow veteran werent on the same bus that day . The experiences they share point to the importance of food insecure and approach to finding effective solutionings. One approach is using the coupled help model of prevention, this is three models of prevernen, primary, focused on preventing the problem in the first place, secondary, preventing the problem early as possible and tertiary which is reducing it from getting worse. Most focus on tertiary prevention with Food Distribution programs. Theres also increased attention on screening for Food Insecurity, which is a form of secondary prevention, however the most effective but also most complex Solutions Address the root causes of Food Insecurity, so far, Research Indicates that veterans found with physical, mental health, housing instability and financial instability, this means efforts to address Food Insecurity theed to tackle these. Additionally, veterans have described the initial six to 12 months operation from active duty as a high risk from Food Insecurity, also a time when they run out of money, may still be looking for a job and may not have yet received care for healthrelated issues. Another pro active approach to risk their Food Insecurity is leverage the Transition Assistance Program for registration into the Health Administration so veterans have access to healthcare and auxillary support. This is also an torrent for transition Service Members, those enlisted in grade 7 or below especially to apply for s. N. A. P. Strive for Food Insecurity among veterans to address the Food Shortages with a need to address contributing factors. Once again, i thank the subcommittee and wish all veterans in the subcommittee and abroad a very happy veterans day. I dont think i was unmuted. Thank you for your testimony. I now recognize our final witness, mr. Keith. Please unmute and begin when you are ready. Good morning, or afternoon, now im confused with all the zoom stuff. But chairwoman hayes, Ranking Member bacon and distinguished members of the subcommittee. My name is tim keith and id like to start by saying ive worked since i was 11 years old. I never had to worry about being hungry. I just work and i eat. It wasnt until i couldnt work that i experienced real hunger. I suffered an injury at work as the chair woman said and after two years of surgeries and physical therapy, occupational therapy, it was another two years before i could get even the status to get back to work as the department of labor had me medically unable to work. So with no income or address by that time, i became homeless. I applied for a s. N. A. P. Benefits and received 194 worth of food. This was crucial, however, but because of work restrictions i was cut off after three months. Brought all my paper work to s. N. A. P. And the declaration by the department of labor they was medically unable to work, i was told this did not qualify me for disabled status in which the work restriction would be waived. I showed my doctors paper work which basically cleared me from work although the department of labor wasnt seeing it that way. This was to no avail. I then asked for the paperwork i needed to volunteer to satisfy the work restrictions that way, the screener told me they didnt feel comfortable putting me into a volunteer situation with my injury, so i asked what do i need . He said there was an appeal process i could go through and appeal the decision, so i ask what do i eat until then . I waited in silence for a solid minute as he staired blankly back at me and said there was nothing he could do for me. In the year that followed i filed appeals to both s. N. A. P. And the department of labor for a change of status but i lost all of them. In the meantime, i had to add seven holes to the belt i was wearing to keep my pants up. My conditions devolved into that of a caveman thats all i can think of. Living like a caveman. No, Nothing Better than that. Forageing took up a lot of my time. But once a month, i could hitch hike 25 miles to visit, in either direction, actually, which was fortunate, i could visit the food pantries there. I was able to fill a backpack with enough food to give me a meal a day for two weeks if i stretched it. Still, there were more days than i care to remember where there was nothing to eat. The food bank offered supplemental food once a month and had me eating one meal a day, but the food bank has limited resources and im truly grateful for that food, but i know that i still lack nutrition and calories. S. N. A. P. In my particular case would have gone a long way to bolster my health during this time. As i continued to wade through seemingly endless appeals process. Unfortunately, i can tell you firsthand that when you have gone a couple days without food your whole being cries out in desperation i cant explain. You cant sleep, as tired as you are, you cant think of anything but trying to get food. I contemplated stealing food, could hitch hike down to the super market and fill a backpack and if i get caught id go to jail and eat. If i got away, id have the food and eat, but i was able to resist this urge. Its a desperation i wouldnt wish on my worst enemy. A little more than a year later i turned 50 and started the work restrictions, i immediately reapplied, i think i was in there on my birthday, if im not mistaken and received that 194 benefit, it amounts to about 6. 45 a day, but it didnt take long for my health and energy to increase. I started gaining the weight back. The return with s. N. A. P. Benefits meant i could concentrate on improving other areas of my life and a year later i was working again. I would like to also raise awareness for the veteran whose are not disables but are returning to society with the unique experience of having to deal to adjust from a combat zone to everyday life. Surely, we can feed them. In the navy in boston, i was ready and willing to give my life for this country and it seemed like during this time i couldnt even get a sandwich from them. Thank you. Thank you for your testimony, mr. Keith. At this time, members will be recognized for questions in order of seniority. Alternating between majority and minority members, you will be recognized for five minutes each in order to allow us to get to as many questions as possible. Please keep your microphones muted until you are recognized in order to minimize background noise. I now recognize myself for five minutes of questions. First of all, mr. Keith, thank you for your service, and for your powerful testimony. You are exactly what members of this committee, your testimony is exactly what members of this committee need to hear as we search for solutions. I understand that after you turned 50, you were able to access s. N. A. P. Benefits since the time limit on benefits for adults without dependence based out at that age. Based on your experience, do you believe that the s. N. A. P. Work requirement incentivizes work or do you think they have unintended consequences, specifically for veterans . Well, definitely unintended consequences. I feel like there was like a fissure, i felt, this catch 22 that opened up and swallowed me up. So definitely that. Work restrictions, i mean, down the line, enough work. Thank you, mr. Keith. Ms. Condor, you mentioned in your testimony the sense of desperation veterans feel when they are denied assistance, how can we better address Food Insecurity among veterans living on the poverty line and based on your research, would allowing people to save more money while qualifying for s. N. A. P. , for example raising asset limits be helpful in this situation . I do believe one of the reasons why many of the veterans who told me they applied for snap couldnt qualify was because disability counted as income so if the disability could be removed as an income qualifier, perhaps that would open an opportunity for more of them to get snap benefits. Im sorry, can you repeat the first question that you had . Yes, i said how do we better address hunger and Food Insecurity amongst veterans who are living on the poverty line . So i think having those safety nets available to them, having then also we need to consider health care, transportation, housing because they are all so interrelated. If we only focus on food and neglect the other critical needs, were only addressing part of problems. As you mentioned, it is a different population. They have their own unique culture. I believe the way we approach them to help them needs to be unique to their culture. Most veterans dont want to feel like they getting a hand out. Fp they can understand this is assistance they deserve and as presented to them respectably and honorably, those are the approaches we need to make sure they are receiving the care. Thank you. Mrs. Hollywood, studies have shown that Food Insecurity is associated with increased risk of negative and physical Health Outcomes including depression, hyper tension and oral health problems. They seem problematic for Service Members whose jobs depend on staying physically and mentally fit. Do you believe that Food Insecurity harms or retention efforts . Our research doesnt have a specific statistic on that. Anything that impacts our military readiness is an important problem we need to attack. Thank you. I think its critical to know that this is a population that has higher instances of disability. We really need to, in my opinion, think about the way disabilities are counted towards benefits in most of these cases. Thank you for your thoughtful answers to that to my questions. I yield back. I now recognize the distinguished Ranking Member mr. Bacon for his questions. Did you say they wouldnt allow do you have disabilities or werent offered a disability recognition . I went to the feds and had them exam me for federal disability. They said i was fiep. My doctor said my condition would improve. I had a torn cartilage in my hand. I see people working with one hand. I just didnt understand what was happening to me at the time. Thank you. I appreciate it. Would now not think its a more effective way of trying to address Food Insecurity . Yes. I agree that military pay levels need to be looked at. I think thats an issue, solution thats working really far upstream on this issue which is where we all need focus. As far as upstream on these issues as we can. Its a big lift. In the meantime, some of the other proposals and solutions that are being put forth and that well discuss today can help these families to be a i believe to put food op the table. Yeah, i agree. We have so many more enlisted members who are supporting families and need additional support. We really need to look at how the composition of our military has changed over time. Thank you. I appreciate the feedback. I know we have worked hard on extending family tours so that spouses can get employment more easily. Were working on licensing so if youre licensed in virginia, it will work in illinois and so forth. Are you seeing a positive impact on some of these adjustments were making on families for spouse income . For the needle is moving but its not moving nearly fast enough. The primary reason its not is the child care issue. The licensing is great. If we dont fix the child care issue, were never going to move the needle on Military Spouse unemployment. Most bases offer child care. Are you saying that of capacity these days or some basis because every base ive been on has child care provisions . I was part of the units that did run child care facilities and never enough capacity coupled with the cost. Thats really a primary concern thats prevented successful Military Spouse to move like wed like to see it. Okay. I did 30 years in the air force. One base we had two child cares. I think most of the bases have tried to provide capacity because i know its a concern for a lot of families. For some it could be over 1500. You dont think we should count that towards determining snap income . I think we need priority with our military family members with their civilian counterparts. This is not taxable income. Its not on par with our civilian counter parts. Do civilian counter parts get Housing Alliance . No. Their salaries would be reflective of those different allowances. I guess its a debatable point. I guess im out of time. Thank you. I was going to let you go, representative bacon. Ill add from the committee. Thank you for your service. 30 years is quite impressive and to miss hollywood, to your point, highlighting the child care issue. Thats part of the president s build back better agenda. We heard this over and over from different communities. I now recognize the gentleman from massachusetts. You have five minutes for your questions. Thank you very much. Look, this not a new issue. Weve been talk about this, youve been talking about this and others have that Blue Star Families have been talk about this for years. The powers to be havent done anything about it. Pentagon has known this for years. They have not come up to the hill and ask that we not count the Housing Allowance toward total income. They havent been up here shaking the trees. Theres a problem here. Its not just among active duty. Its among our veterans. I want to thank you for sharing your story. I first learned about you through a Washington Post article and it talked about what you went through. The voices of people with lived experiences are out of policy making. I hope my colleagues who have advocated for harsher time limits and work requirements are listening to your testimony. In real life things dont fall into nice, neat categories. Its a lot of gray area. The avenue i cant imagine time someone is on snap is less than a year. You laid out how cruel the requirements are. They do not make sense. What can congress do to better help people that fall into your situation in addition to not having these harsh and cruel time limits or work requirements. How could the system have been more helpful to you . A complete audit of the workman comp system would reveal a couple of things. These agencies are at odds with each other in dealing with me at the time. The paper work on appeals i have for all of this is ridiculous. What would have helped me is stopping the bleeding. Immediate stopping the bleeding. If i could have gone to, you know, the military Medical Center and maybe a box of food or something, that would have been great. This is an effective program. Those new red tape in between theres no anything. They dpif you food. Clearly if there had been no arbitrary on your time limit, that would have helped . Yeah. Again, real life is complicated. It doesnt fit into nice sound bites. I really appreciate your testimony. I know im running out of time. I do want to thank my friends for their attention to this issue. People who serve the country are in a situation where they dont know where their next meal is coming from. They should be ashamed. This isnt a new revelation. The question is whether or not were going to do anything about it or raise questions as to whether this is all real. It is real. We know theres solutions here. We have to act. We have to do something. I know im out of time. This is really helpful. Lets resolve by next year or something so we dont have to hear these stories and help make peoples lives better. I yield back. Thank you. I now recognize the gentleman from tennessee, where its 70 degrees today. Thank you. I appreciate it share woman. Thank you to our witnesses for appearing today. Clearly this is an important topic and it almost seems as if we should have the va committee and past committee included today to discuss this because they are all intertwined and we dont want to see anyone in the country go hungry. We want this to not be one of their problems. I would like to note the House Armed Services past the fiscal year 2021 and 22 Defense Authorization act that all included provisions related to military hunger and the issues were here discussing today. Now the report is due on march 31st of 2022. I think we should all encourage the department to publish this information so we can get an accurate grasp on the situation and see what committees jurisdiction should get involved here. We did attempt to address this. I do take little issue that saying nobody cares and nobody is trying to do anything. That maybe wasnt enough but it was something. Im not sure why that olive branch was rejected. I would close with thanking our military personnel. We want to solve this problem. Im committed with working with those other committees to find a way to alleviate this problem and wish every one a happy veterans day and ill yield back. Thank you. I recognize the gentle lady from north carolina. Representative adams. You have five members. Thank you. Thank you so much for your service. Its disheartening to know so many of our veterans and military families dont know when their next meal will be. No one in this great country especially the men and women who wear the uniform should ever go hungry. We mustards long standing barriers to veteran and military families participation in snap with innovative and proactive solutions. How we heard today of mr. Kiefs testimony. Thank you for your service and willingness to share your story. When did you first apply to snap for benefits . It wasnt until after the workmans comp had run out. Two years after my injury. That day they gave me three months worth which were the stipulations and cut me off. Were you screened for Food Insecurity at a Health Care Facility while getting treated for your injuries or provided with resources to prevent you from becoming food insecure and homeless. They asked if you had food but that was about it. I think youve already indicated what you say kopg can do to make sure that the veteran experiences that are not the same kinds of hardships that you experience. Thank you for sharing that. The basic allowance for housing is considered income. I dont know the answer to that. I do know that is definitely a barrier that having the bah be part of income is a barrier for military families as is the fact that its only pegged at 95 of the local yarps rent. Even that difference, that 5 is another barrier to be honest with military family members. Its not listed among many exclusions that are included in the snap program. Its not counted or considered income for federal income tax turps and most federal assistance programs. Its not treated as income. Okay. Its really seems to be an overnight. It may have been unintended but its persisted. Thank you. Would you elaborate on what efforts we should focus on and how congress can help in this regard . As i said in my statement, my suggestion is that as the veterans are going, as the transitionings Service Members are going through the taps courses, if theres a way they can be signed up for health care through the veteran administration that would connect them with health care so theres not a gap there. Once theyre in the vha system they would have basic says to other systems like social work and case managers who can direct them when the needs arise or prevent the need from arising. Thank you very much. Im out of time. Im going to yield back. Thank you representative adams. I recognize the gentleman from indiana. If you can unmute. You have five minutes for questioning. Thank you. I really appreciate this hearing today. I really want to start off, too, just by saying and expressing my appreciation to all of our nations veterans and for all of those that have worn the uniform of the United States armed forces. My question deals the concern on my demographic about veterans and active duty personnel. Im concerned that i dont feel that we have the kind of data we need to make the analysis and we dont have, i dont know that we have an overall feeling of engagement. My question is to any member that would like to address this. The organizations that you represent and have you conducted the research and come up with various conclusions on this topic and then i want to know how you have tried to share or have shared that with dod or the da or the House Armed Services committee. Any one of you that would like to start are welcome. Im happy to chime in. Thank you first for your service and for the question. Its an important one this issue of the lack of data around these issues. We dont have enough data. Thankfully we have colleagues in the field who have conducted studies and tried to give us information that we can use to make better public policy. The federal government has the capacity and reach to document this issue. Its the lack of recognition thats a problem and its unacceptable that we dont have the data. Hungry families cant wait for data. They cant eat another hunger study. While we need to continue to push for the numbers, we also have to act. We cant wait any longer. Im presenting today as a private citizen. I cant speak about any data thats in the va. I will say that we have been able to use data from surveillance. It would be nice to have additional data. Miss hollywood. We have been conducting the annual military survey for ten years now. We do have data that could help us get the ball moving forward in the right direction along with the data from the u. S. Army Public Health center that was conducted recently among 11,000 soldiers at two different installations. I think theres a database line, continued Data Analysis is always welcome. I think theres enough data to help move the needle in the right direction. Thank you. I really appreciate you recognizing that veterans are in and of themselves. You have 26 seconds. Not to put pressure on you. I dont have a eloquent answer in the 15 seconds i have left to address that. Veterans depend on other veterans. Some solution, i think the veterans are the best people to go to to ask how can we help you. Thats the approach i take in my research. Nice job. With that i yield back. Thank you. I now recognize the gentleman from illinois. Representative rush, you have five minute for your questions. Please unmute and again. Thank you. I join this conversation and the veteran of our Armed Services and also as a pastor of a local church that takes seriously the charge to feed the hungry and provide services for all of our citizens. As a pastor of a church, a congressman and a veteran, these roles have informed my perspective on the importance of addressing Food Insecurity for our veterans and also for our active Service Members. Let me make sure that i am clear on this. Our veterans of one out of our nations most appreciated and most valuable asset they are sacrifices should be appreciated and there are still should be able to anticipated for our nations future. That said, drp, i agree that three tiered approach is critical to prevent, stop and treat the damage caused by Food Insecurity. While i agree with miss hubbards call to for the government to not abdicate its responsibility. I firmly believe that there is a role for religious organizations and not for profit in this vital work. They work with communiies on daytoday basis. If they are given the need for proper support of government. How can the federal government better empower them to play a more effective role . Most of the veterans ive encountered, when they are in need, they go do churches. They can ask their congregation, including those who are veterans if they need assistance. If they are short on food. Screening could be one of them. Churches are there to help. It can be a source of Immediate Release but can also be a source that can help equity veterans to other resources that they need to address those upstream barriers that they may be facing. If theres a support mechanism that is help them address the questions be a source of support. Not just providing the food but helping them be an advocate. I yield back the balance of my time. I yield back the balance of my time. Im sorry. I now recognize the gentle lady from louisiana. Thank you. As we look to tomorrow to recognition veterans day and share our utmost appreciation to the men and women who courageously stepped up to line of duty to fight for the freedom we all share here at home, id like to extend a special thank you to the veterans testifying before us today and all the other Service Members and vet raps for their service to our great country. Given the sacrifice of our servicemen and women, i believe its only right we ensure our military and veteran families have the resources they need to care and prosper. For the purpose of this hearing, i echo the sentiment my colleagues have shared before me. Some of the topics are the direct jurisdiction of the House Armed Services committee and matters pertaining to the department of defense. While the Agriculture Committee has oversight of the u. S. Department of agriculture supplemental nutrition programs, the committees of jurisdiction and the dod need to be at the table to provide their insight and findings as it relates to the Financial Stability of active duty members and those transitioning out of the service. Miss hollywood, in your written testimony you highlighted the barriers that Military Spouses face when considering gainful employment and how it contributes to families financial stress. Can you speak to the Work Force Development services Blue Star Families specifically for unemployed spouses. Thank you. One of the things we really strive to do at Blue Star Families is partner to share resources. Were a hub of resources for a Military Spouses to help them find not only resources on the training side to help them get the needed training they may need. I think the more we can educate industry on the ongoing problems with Military Spouse unemployment, the more we can get industry to employ our Military Spouses and learn about their unique situations as a result of being a Military Spouse. Thank you. Thats encouraging to hear. Do Blue Star Services provide services for individuals transitioning out of the service to help them find postactive duty employment or help them navigate other programs offered and how would you measure the success of the programs . We do provide the programs. Our programs are open to active duty and veteran families. We do Program Evaluations after each program that we do. We have hosted our current pipe line of Military Spouses looking for training is over 10,000 people. Just frying to get resources in the door is a measure of success. Thank you. I yields back. This jurisdiction has policies over nutrition. Its absolutely something we should be working to try to address. I now recognize the gentleman from california. You have five minutes for questions. Thank you. As a veteran myself, im committed to ensuring our brave men and women who have sacrificed so much for our country along with their families had the resources they need. Miss hubbard, as have been discussed, you highlight barrier Service Members face with their basic aluns for housing is treated as income which can effect their eligibility for federal nutrition programs like snap. You also highlight other factors that increases Service Members chance of being food insecure like basal ris that do not reflect the reality of our modern military force and the lack of access to affordable child care. The military hunger revent act, a bipartisan bill, i call with member of this Sub Committee including representatives bacon and representative bard would create a basic needs allowance to support low income Service Member who is are not el jebl for snap. Could you please speak on how this bill would improve the crisis at hand. I know youve touched on it already. If you can expand on it, i would greatly appreciate it. Thank you for the question and for your support and leadership on this. The military family basic needs allowance if enacted would basically call on the dod to automatically notify Service Members of their potential eligibility for this allowance if theyre at or below 130 of the federal poverty line which is the base minimum of the gross income thresholds for snap. The dod doesnt have all the households information. A Service Member would have to record additional income including their spouses income. They could opt out if they chose not to participate but if they did qualify and were able to participate they would get a plus up in their base pay that would put them at above the 130 poverty line. Its really an opportunity to respond to the barriers that were seeing in snap and to be able to give these Service Members a little extra money they can use to respond to basic needs. Weve got bipartisan support for it and im really hoping we can get it done. Its the full provision is in the house. The Senate Version does include the baa as income. That particularly version of it would not be as effective and were hoping that the house version will be the version that ends up in the final ndaa bill. We really appreciate your work on it. Thank you. Following up to that, could you speak on how this bill could help improve mental Health Outcomes for our military serving families. Yes. Thank you for that. I think a number of us have mentioned in our earlier remarks about the correlation between Food Insecurity and negative mental Health Outcomes including suicide. I think responding to Food Insecurity is a critical action that we can take to address the crisis of increasing rates of military suicide. I think whether its the screening that were doing or in the care that is being provided and one of the things i mentioned was the solid start program, the veteran Suicide Prevention program and being able to make sure that folks are getting information about Food Insecurity and about resources that they can use, including the snap program to address it will help with this inter connection of Food Security and mental Health Outcomes. Thank you so much. I yield back. Thank you for your questions. I now recognize the gentle lady from new york. Im not sure if shes on. The next witness is representative from florida. Okay. I recognize the gentleman from california. You have five minutes for questioning. Thank you. I appreciate this opportunity and thank you to all of the witnesses and all of my colleagues who are not just interested but focused on doing something about this pressing issue. Thanks to all of you. Especially the witnesses who are willing to discuss some of these tough issues of military hunger and hunger amongst our veterans. This represents a failure of our government to serve those who have served us. Today you and my colleagues that we heard from have expressed a number of the complicating reasons but also some solutions that we can put forward here in congress to help. For example, we heard how the usda counts the bac the bah towards income when considering snap eligibility. Thats resulted in low income military families being disqualified from snap and having to rely on food pantries and food banks for emergency food assistance. Thats why to address that specific issue, i introduce the bipartisan military hunger prevention act. I was fortunate to have the support of my colleagues on this panel. This bill would make up for that. Although its unfortunate that snap military families must resource to that program, i do believe its our responsibility to ensure those families at the least have access to this necessary support that they need to lead healthy food secure lives. I was proud to introduce along with representatives delgado and bacon, the Military Spouse act. We got to do more to take care of those who have protected us and not deter the good men and women from enlisting and serving in our Armed Services. My legislation would address and ensure families are able to put food on the table. It would give folks some Additional Resources and increase their purchasing power for things like food for their basic needs. We want to see that. If they dont have the resources, they are turning to the charitable sector for food. Theres nothing wrong with food pantries for emergency needs, but its unacceptable that Service Members are turning to pantries routinely to help feed their families. To be able to adequately address their basic needs for food. I agree. I think your word unacceptable is more than appropriate. I got a few minutes left. Miss hollywood, you note that one intersecting issue along with the issue that we have discussed with the basic allowances for housing is Military Spouse unemployment. How would that help address the Unemployment Crisis amongst Military Spouses. Its a much different dynamic than a family whose spouse doesnt go on deployments. Then youre left with a whole other set of problems. I think anything that helps move the needle for Military Spouse unemployment and gets employers more interested in hiring Military Spouses as this act would do would be a great move in the right direction. I think that would really open the door to more employers pursuing hiring of Military Spouses. I yield back. Thank you. I yield to the gentleman from florida. Representative lawson. You have five minutes for questions. Thank you very much. You mentioned for congress to explore transition of benefit and their family leaving the military service. In your opinion, what sort of services should be included in the transition of benefit and how long should they last . Its a critical time for Food Insecurity can rise. I think they need to do a better job of helping folks make that transition. One of the things i mentioned in my testimony was for the tap program needing to be a better bridge to federal food programs like snap. The program would be more effective about those resources. I think often time folks who go through the program its like a fire house of information that is hard to retain and i think thinking about different ways to be able to link people to these resources during their transition is important. The program for exiting Service Members at a certain rank level so they dont have to worry about Food Insecurity while they are accomplishing themselves, finding a home and finding job and getting back on their feet. Anyone else on the panel want to comment on that . I think getting upstream of some of the problems will help veterans. That just kind of complicates things. Getting um stream of those problems is another way to solve this. Does military ranking regardless of what service has a great deal to do with whether youll have Food Insecurity . It shows its more senior listed family that face Food Insecurity. It wasnt an issue for me but i did see that happening when i got out and people i know, you didnt make much money when youre in. You didnt have much money when you leave. If youre higher, its kind of reflective of American Society in general. Were only as great as our most disenfranchised person. Thats amazing. Im going to yield back. I dont think i can get the other question in which i have in the state of florida, the third line of veteran population according to the cesus bureau and about 800,000 of those are women. I worry about the transition of women back into the work force and snap benefits and Everything Else with kids and so forth. I dont have enough time. With that i yield back. Thank you for bringing that to the attention of this committee. I now recognize the gentleman from the northern mariana islands. Did i lose him . Okay. I will yield to the gentleman from new york. Representative maloni. Moving right along. We have a guest joining us today. The gentleman from georgia and chairman of the house at Appropriations Committee representative bishop. Twok our committee. Youre recognized for five minutes for questioning. Thank you very much. Let me thank all the members of this Sub Committee for your attention to this very, very important issue. Let me also commend representative pinetta and for the introduction of the military hunger prevention act which is very much needed. I agree 100 with the need for basic needs allowance. Id like to ask to the comment about their knowledge of the bill that we have introduced along with members of the Sub Committee dealing with military hunger. I ask you to comment on based on what we heard today, the need for a National Eligibility threshold, for example. The need for better Data Collection to be able to actually document which we have been looking forward to. The possibility of an automatic enrollment for our military families who would be eligible for snap. The basic allowance for the housing for a military family that lives on post and receives the basic allowance for housing theyre penalized. Let me ask to comment on how the earned act would compliment the military hunger act that mr. Panetta has offered and which we hope will soon become law. The earn act has been helpful in raising awareness about military Food Insecurity and Short Term Solutions like the earn act and removing barriers to snap eligibility from the farm bill but even more broadly our extremely helpful. I do believe in the long run that the root causes, the root causes i addressed earlier in my testimony really need to be resolved in order to prevent this problem from existing in the first place. Thank you congressman bishop for your commitment to ending hunger among military and veteran families. We welcome any legislation that will generate more conversation about potential solutions. I think the single most important thing we can do now is pass the military basic needs allowance provision. Its on the table now. Its been too long of an issue to have been ignored the way it has. Thank you. I think my time is about expired. If you could share some Top Line Solutions from your upcoming report on the impact thatblack and hispanic families face in particular. Can you share top line conclusions quickly. Sir, i dont have the actual stats other than our research did say that military family of color. We havent released we just conducted a military family of study this summer. The results arent finalized but it shows Food Insecurity is higher in military families of color than their white peers. Well be releasing the results in february of 2022. Thank you very much. Thank you for allowing me to participate in the hearing. Thank you. I recognize the gentleman from new york. You have five minutes for questioning. I thank the chair so much for conveing this hearing. Im delighted to learn more about the subject and see my constituent Denise Hollywood here from new york. Riepgt now the largest Construction Projects in the army are at west point. We spend and properly so huge amount of taxpayer dollars making sure we have the best trained, best equipped, most Extraordinary Group of young officers anywhere in the world coming out of the United States military academy. A few miles down the road, an organization like Blue Star Families is working on an issue that represents a whole other spectrum of the reality that so many people who serve in our military face. I really just want to give you an opportunity to explain to folks who may find this folks who may find this hard to believe what the unique barriers are this hollywood to military families when theyre trying to access the s. N. A. P. Benefits that they earned and its particularly glaring to know how many are accessing benefits because theyre food insecure and their families are, but theres a great portion who are not receiving those benefits and i would love to talk to you about that if i could. Thank you, sir. I was up at west point yesterday. A lot of construction going on in that area. One of the things weve seen in our research, whether its food inskuft or financial insecurity, you have to go through your chain of command to get help. Oftentimes you have to go over your chain of command to get help and oftentimes theres a stigmatism associated with that. Maybe Food Insecurity isnt the right way to approach it with our military families and veterans. Like nourish to flourish, maybe theres another way to destigmatize these issues with our military families. And then getting the access we need to the resources. The three areas we talked about getting upstream of the problem, Military Spouse unemployment, the unreimbursed relocation expenses that all military families get every time that they move and then this outofpocket housing expense that the Housing Allowance doesnt meet 100 of the actual rents in that area, i think those are the three main causes we see that actually continues to make this problem not go away for military families. I know youve done important work on this with the military Family Lifestyle survey, and if you can just expound on that a little bit, please. Weve certainly seen this in other areas where were trying to help our our vets and their families and sometimes, yes, theres a reluctance to ask for help. And that barrier which is sometimes selfimposed is particularly i think challenging. Talk about how we can do better on that and what some of the survey work youve done can tell us. Weve been doing this military Family Lifestyle largely for ten years now. Were not a lobbying group but advocacy organization. We try to bring the results of these surveys to senior government leaders to help them help us move the needle. Our series of change we live in partners is share and act so we try to listen to what military families are really saying. We get a lot of input from Military Spouses who bear the burden of military moves, they bear the burden of childcare and bear the burden of Household Incomes that maybe arent as high as they would like because of spouse unemployment issues. When we gather this research, we work with partners to find Creative Solutions and share that solution with government leaders to help us advocate for solutions, such as ones we discussed today on this panel. Gentleman maloney, youre muted. Excuse me, thank you very much. We appreciate your help in shining the light on this support issue, particularly as we shine a lot on our veterans on veterans day. Thank you so much, madam, for your work and i yield back. Thank you. Miss okeefe, i think youre the only one who knows how to work the mute button here. I think that brings us to the end of the member questioning. If there are any other members on the platform who would like to ask a question, i will now recognize you. With that i invite the Ranking Member congressman bacon to share any closing comments he may have. Thank you very much. Again, i think our panelists for being on today and sharing your perspective. Manager, i have statement from the American Logistics association. They invite some details about the supply chain at fox insecurity food in our military that i will submit for the record. Without objection. Thank you. And i want to be careful if we Start Talking about changes in vhf and vhs, we dont want this to be taxable income because there will be 20 cut for taxes taken out on these individuals. So we want to be careful how we address this in my view. And there was maybe a followup question but maybe its too late to get the panelists to comment on this. There was a mention on there that minorities are affected more, i would love to get a little more detail how this works, whether its the same pay and same thing. Maybe we can come back and get those details. I would like to understand that better. I would also commit to the chair lady and to the team that im going to write a letter to dod. I want to get their position on this. I can do it i can do it either way here but i want to know is this a real issue with our junior military ranks. If it is, our military needs to say it is and give us the scope of the problem and we need to work into it and lean into it and figure out how were going to fix this. With that, madam chair, i thank you for time for making closing remarks. Thank you, representative bacon and for your unique perspective on this issue and your service. I also want to sincerely thank all of the Witnesses Today. We genuinely appreciate you being here to share your experiences. You paint a picture of challenges faced by veterans and active military members, that we will need as we work to remedy this problem on this committee. I hope we can all agree that even one hungry veteran or Service Member is too many. I asked the other members of this committee to reflect on what we have heard today and to come together to find solutions that will ensure our veterans and Service Members have the basic dignity of knowing they will have food on the table for themselves and their families. Under the rules of the committee, the record of todays hearing will remain open for ten calendar days to receive additional material and supplemental responses by any member. This hearing on the subcommittee on nutrition oversight and Department Operations is adjourned. Thank you. Cspanshop. Org, browns through all of our latest materials. Theres something for every cspan fan. Shop now or at any time at cspan shop. Org. Season one focuses on the presidency of lyndon johnson. You will hear about the 1964 civil rights act, 1964 president ial campaign, gulf of tom kin incident, march on selma and war in vietnam. Not everyone knew they were being recorded. Certainly johnsons secretaries knew because they were tasked with transcribing many of those conversations. In fact, they were the ones who made sure the conversations were taped as johnson would signal to them through an open door between his office and theirs. Youll also hear some blunt talk. Jim . Yes, sir. I want a report of the number of people assigned to kennedy on me the day he died and the number assigned to me now. And if mine are not less, i want them less right quick. Yes, sir. I promise you, if i ever have to go to the bathrooms, i wont go. I wont go anywhere. I will stay right behind these black gates. Cspan now, find it on the mobile app or wherever you get your podcasts. How exactly did america get up to its neck in debt . 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Entries must be received before january 20th, 2022. For competition rules, tutorials or just how to get started, visit our website at studentcam. Org. Civil rights advocates and finance experts testify on barriers facing lgbtq individuals in the Financial Services industry from a house Financial Services subcommittee. This is about 1 15. This hearing entitled there is no pride in prejudice eliminating barriers to full economic inclusion for the