That Missing Week

Expanding food stamps is the most direct way to reduce hunger in America. There are about 35 million Americans who experience food insecurity, and about 25 million who receive food stamps -- really debit cards that can only be used for food (not sold for cash or used for alcohol). Both the Clinton and Bush administrations have cut fraud in this program. And because this system is computerized, we also know that most benefits are used up by the third week of the month, leaving many families to scramble for other sources of food.

Hunger exacts a social cost. Hungry adults miss more work and consume more health care. Hungry children tend to be sicker, absent from school more often, and more prone to get into more trouble. Larry Brown of the Harvard School of Public Health calculates that the total price tag of hunger to American society is about $90 billion a year. In contrast, Brown estimates it would only cost about $10 billion to $12 billion a year to "virtually end hunger in our nation."

And this raises a moral issue. We have in place an automated food stamp program that is generally efficient and effective. We know it could be expanded with little increase in overhead. And we know with precision when its benefit runs out each month. So how is it then possible to justify funding three weeks of food instead of four? What additional dependence, what added moral hazard, could a full month of eating possibly create?

Many social problems seem complex beyond hope. But dramatic progress against hunger is not. There are many explanations why this effort has not been undertaken -- but there are no good excuses.