Government must help with child nutrition

The Gazette deserves thanks for news and editorial coverage of empty shelves at local food pantries while need skyrockets and federal food commodity programs shrink. But we can't “food bank” our way out of hunger while the federal government cuts funding for nutrition programs.

According to advocacy organization Bread for the World, food provided by all the charities in the country amounts to just 6 percent of that provided by federal nutrition programs. Charitable contributions will never be large enough to offset federal cuts.

During negotiations on the federal debt limit and 2012 budget, Congress needs to provide a circle of protection around safety-net programs for the poor and hungry here and abroad. The solution must include revenue increases as well as spending cuts. Tax rates are currently at historically low values.

Extensive research shows that malnutrition between conception and age 2 produces irreversible harm, including interference with brain development. The federal WIC program provides nutritious food and counseling to pregnant women and children to age 5 who are at risk of malnutrition.

The current federal budget cut WIC funding by $518 million. The House fiscal 2012 budget proposes cutting WIC

by one-third during

10 years. Cutting WIC is “penny-wise and pound-foolish” because it creates costly educational problems later.

Budgets are moral documents and clearly demonstrate the values of those who produce them. Retaining tax deductions for mortgage interest on second homes, for example, while insisting that our country cannot afford to prevent malnutrition in young children is immoral.

Ellen Fisher

Cedar Rapids