Eva M. Clayton: “we all recognize that we are enjoying great prosperity, prosperity that we have not experienced ever before, and this is…”

“we all recognize that we are enjoying great prosperity, prosperity that we have not experienced ever before, and this is indeed a time to do those things that we could not afford to do before. I want to bring to my colleagues' attention that there is a bill, H.R. 3192, it is called the Hunger Relief Act, and it has more than 180 cosponsors; and in the Senate, it has more than 39 cosponsors. It is a bipartisan bill. It is a bill that looks at the fact that the least among us are not able to feed themselves. Some estimate that there are more than 40 million people who are facing hunger, or hunger insecurity. This is the time indeed, if we want to use the surplus, part of that surplus should be used to relieve those who are indeed suffering from hunger. I would say to my colleagues, we would be spending more money, truly we would; but investing in nutrition would reduce, guess what, the cost of health care. Vesting in nutrition would mean that children would learn better. So this would be an investment, Mr. Speaker, that I think we cannot afford not to do. Please, let us bring this bill up on suspension so we can do this before the end of this Congress.”