Rep Stansbury Attends Historic White House Hunger Conference

Statement

Today, U.S. Representative Melanie Stansbury (N.M.-01), a member of the bipartisan House Hunger Caucus, attended the first White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health in 50 years as an invited guest. At the conference, Rep. Stansbury joined President Biden, fellow members of the House Hunger Caucus, and national leaders on hunger to identify solutions to address food insecurity and support healthy communities across New Mexico and the nation. During the conference, Rep. Stansbury hosted Katy Anderson, Chief Programs Officer at Roadrunner Food Bank, in Washington, D.C.

Currently, one of every six people and one of every four children experience hunger in New Mexico. As a former school lunch kid, Rep. Stansbury is a leader in New Mexico on hunger and nutrition issues, voting to pass the Keep Kids Fed Act to protect children's access to school meals and co-sponsoring a number of bills to address childhood hunger and food insecurity.

"The White House Hunger Conference is the first conference to tackle hunger that our U.S. government has had in over 50 years since 1969, which was a game-changing conference that helped our government focus its attention on combatting hunger, and helped Congress lead the way in passing some of the most significant anti-hunger legislation ever in our country's history," said Rep. Stansbury. "As we know in New Mexico, one in four children and one in six families are experiencing hunger -- this is an issue that cuts near and dear to our hearts in our state. We're here today to commit to ending hunger in the United States."

During her service in the New Mexico State Legislature, Rep. Stansbury led a successful effort to eliminate school meal co-pays and expand school meals to thousands of children across New Mexico. She also sponsored legislation to convene and fund the Governor's Hunger Task Force.

During her service in Congress, Rep. Stansbury has taken her fight to tackle hunger to the national level. She recently secured $875,000 for the East Mountain Food Pantry to expand their services through a purpose-built facility through House-passed budget bills in June. She has also cosponsored key legislation to address childhood hunger and food insecurity across New Mexico, including:

H.R. 3115, the Universal School Meals Program Act to eliminate school lunch debt and permanently provide 3 locally-sourced meals a day and a snack to all schoolchildren, regardless of income.

H.R. 5177, the Schools Preventing Hunger in At Risk Kids (SPARK) Act, a bipartisan bill to make sure kids living with relatives or family friends can enroll in school meals. This would connect nearly 400,000 kids nationwide to the food they need to learn and grow.

H.R. 5048, the Streamlining Nutrition Assistance Paperwork Act, a bill that would cut red tape for New Mexicans seeking food assistance by allowing them to sign up for food assistance over the phone.

H.R. 6272, the College Student Hunger Act, a bill that would expand the eligibility of students to participate in the supplemental nutrition assistance program (SNAP).

In June, Rep. Stansbury spoke on the House floor to call for the urgent passage of legislation to extend pandemic anti-hunger funding to support reliable, healthy meals for children across New Mexico facing food insecurity.

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