Blackburn seeks to end food insecurity for low-income military service members

The bipartisan Military Hunger Prevention Act of 2021, introduced on April 29 by U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), would create a basic needs allowance to help end food insecurity for low-income United States military members and their families.

“Members of our armed services and their families make tremendous sacrifices for our nation,” Sen. Blackburn said. “The last thing our servicemen and women should be concerned with is putting food on the table for their loved ones.”

Sen. Blackburn is the lead original cosponsor of S. 1488 with bill sponsor U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) and 13 other original cosponsors. U.S. Reps. Don Bacon (R-NE) and Jimmy Panetta (D-CA) on April 1 introduced the companion bill, H.R. 2339, in the U.S. House of Representatives.

The proposal reflects a bipartisan commitment to military families and a sustained effort to address food insecurity, said Sen. Blackburn.

“Barriers that prevent our lower-income earning troops and their families from accessing normal food sources like the local grocery store is something that Senator Duckworth and I have been working on together since last summer,” she explained. “We will keep fighting for our service members and their families as long as it takes.”

If enacted, the Military Hunger Prevention Act would correct a so-called flaw in federal law regarding the qualification calculations for federal food assistance programs, which exclude the low-income service members receiving a Basic Allowance for Housing that pays for off-base or privatized military housing, according to Sen. Blackburn’s office.

MAZON: A Jewish Response to Hunger, the National Military Family Association, and Blue Star Families recently endorsed the measure.

“Long before the pandemic, military families struggled to put food on the table,” said Besa Pinchotti, acting executive director of the National Military Family Association. “From frequent moves to high rates of military spouse unemployment, the unique challenges of military life left too many families with empty cupboards and empty stomachs. In the last year, those problems have only gotten worse.”