ared Huffman represents California’s 2nd Congressional District which spans the North Coast of the state, from the Golden Gate Bridge to the Oregon border, and includes Marin, Sonoma, Mendocino, Humboldt, Trinity, and Del Norte counties. He was first elected to Congress in November 2012 and currently serves on the Committee on Natural Resources, the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, and the Select Committee on the Climate Crisis. In the 117th Congress, he chairs the Natural Resources Subcommittee on Water, Oceans and Wildlife, with jurisdiction over federal water projects, fisheries management, coastal zone and oceans policy, and wildlife and endangered species. Jared also founded the Congressional Freethought Caucus to promote sound public policy based on reason, science and moral values, while protecting the secular character of government and championing the value of freedom of thought worldwide.
We must strengthen programs that reduce hunger and improve nutrition for American families, including food stamps (SNAP), Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC), the Summer Food Service Program, and federal assistance for local food banks. Nearly 75% of SNAP recipients are families with children, and more than a quarter of SNAP recipients are households with seniors or people with disabilities. I took the SNAP Challenge during my first year in Congress and lived off of $4.50 a day for food—to demonstrate the modest benefit SNAP recipients get, and underscore that we shouldn’t be reducing any part of America’s food safety net.
Food security is essential to the development and academic success of our nation’s children. That is why I am a cosponsor of the Summer Meals Act, which would expand access to meals during the summer, holidays, and weekends, and why I am calling for increased funding for our federal school meals programs, which – even with the $0.06 increase from the 2010 authorization of the Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act –remain woefully inadequate.