Earlier this spring, U.S. Census Bureau data revealed that approximately one in five National Guard and Reserve service members reported that they are food insecure; responding that they were “sometimes” or “often” hungry, which is more than double the national rate.
Over the summer, Senators Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) sent a letter to Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin requesting information regarding the scope of hunger among service members. In a separate line of effort, language was included in the Defense Appropriations Bill (H.R. 4432) reinforcing a FY 2020 National Defense Authorization Act provision requiring the Secretary of Defense to provide an assessment of the current extend of food insecurity among servicemembers and their dependents.
Senator Duckworth and Warren’s letter can be read here.