Hunger and Poverty Once Again Missing in Trump-Clinton Debate
Washington, D.C. – Bread for the World lamented the absence of any discussion of hunger or poverty during the second Trump-Clinton presidential debate.
The following statement can be attributed to Rev. David Beckmann, president of Bread for the World:
“One in 5 children struggles with hunger, 43 million Americans live below the poverty line, and 631,000 American voters have petitioned Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, and the moderators to discuss hunger and poverty in the debates. Yet hunger and poverty have hardly been mentioned in the first two presidential debates.
“There are many actions the federal government could take to move us toward the end of hunger and poverty. But the only new action proposed last night was Donald Trump’s proposal to block-grant Medicaid. Block-granting programs is a way of cutting them – in this case, allowing states to cut back on health care for people in poverty. Currently 70 million people are protected by the lifesaving federal program.
“The last presidential debate takes place on October 19 in Nevada, where 1 in 7 households struggles to put food on the table. We hope to God that debate moderator Chris Wallace and the candidates will talk about how to provide help and opportunity to people who struggle with hunger and poverty. These problems affect tens of millions of people in our country, and Americans deserve to hear directly from the presidential candidates how they would address them.”
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