testing one two one two testing one two three one two three testing one two one two one two three one two three ok have committed myself to doing everything i can to end hunger here in the united states hunger is not a partisan issue but a political condition we're the richest most prosperous nation in the world and yet we still haven't found the political will to end hunger and the political will has been lacking over the years by not just democrats but by republicans so there is a bipartisan indifference that is occurred on this issue for many many years and we need to change that million children more than one in five went without food at some point during the year five million children over the previous year even worse the number of children living in very low households hungriest of the hungry rose from three hundred  twenty three thousand in two thousand and seven to five hundred five hundred thousand in two thousand and that means that almost two million children are among the hungry of the hungry in america race and gender are also factors about hite house leadership on this issue i introduced a bill h r eight hundred sixty nine that calls for a white house conference on food and nutrition a white house conference would bring together experts in food health and nutrition and economic security  to develop a plan not only to end hunger once and for all the united states but also require proper nutrition is taken into account in such a plan ending hunger is the moral thing to do but it's also critical that we address the issues associated with the rising cost of food and health care and the health problems associated with obesity for nutrition and hunger i think the white house conference could help coordinate such an effort their response to hunger even in the nine headquartered in wichita kansas more than five hundred hunger relief agencies in our state the deliveries have increased from five point five million pounds of food in two thousand and seven to seven point five million pounds  encouraging and i don't know that incenting i don't know that it's a government program necessarily but we certainly need to make people aware of the decisions they make have a consequence to themselves and to the rest of the country in the cost of health care  unusual from the tax because the seven years i've been in the congress the tax cut signed cantor in the first six years i was in the congress tended to be white it toward the top end of the economic s and you're welcome services organizations have been overwhelmed by what has been referred to as a perfect storm of increased demand and a decline in charitable contributions by necessity have responded over fifty percent the highest increases in demand we have ever witnessed as unemployment remains high unemployment benefits run out and other critical health and human services disappear more and more people are turning to food assistance programs with greater need in our forty two year history we have never witnessed a demand for services like we're seeing now hunger relief is truly a growth industry and we're increasingly being asked to do more with our food recipients and their families come from all walks of life and many of them are newcomers pushed over the edge by the recession focus groups we conducted with all recipients around the state in both two thousand and eight and two thousand and nine provided overwhelming evidence of the increase in first time visitors reports from the front lines reinforce this finding for example the director of the thurston county food bank located near our state capital in olympia reporting a seventeen percent increase in new the biggest changing demographic at his pantry campbell the director of our own pantry in seattle reports seeing more and more newcomers every week many of whom never imagined they needed to visit a food pantry and are experiencing a mix of anger and confusion and a general lack of knowledge about how to even access the services that are available to them another story from one of our partner directors in  eastern washington helps illustrate this point he writes that they are still continuing to see new families especially young families with children or older families or teenagers or grown children and the economy has stretched everyone  recently gave middle we recently gave a middle aged man info on food stamps he took it on happily and said that he hated to even think about meeting them with the economy the way it was getting too hard not to sign up with them in addition to morning visitors we seeing troubling increases among our most vulnerable population over half of those we serve our children and seniors we've seen an eighteen percent increase and it is our youngest in all this washingtonians who are both most prone to health problems one undernourished and the least in control of their financial circumstance and many of their circumstances have changed for the worse in the past twelve months focus groups we heard one mother say i will feed my children first and go hungry myself another single parent told us if i could not see my children at home someday at least i  school across the state we're hearing that many former donors and volunteers are now themselves experiencing situational poverty forcing them to come to food pantries and meal programs for help they tell us their mortgage is gone sideways that they lost their living wage jobs at the shipyards and lumber mills where they have new jobs that are so poorly paid they can't meet their own expenses for low income folks and those living month to month who is often the most flexible expenditure in their budget so they're turning to community food assistance programs in record numbers to help make those other ends meet with us harvest this privilege to be one of the most recognizable and well supported charities in washington however many of our partners around the state are reeling from significant decreases in public support charitable giving or limiting their ability to get hungry people in their communities these programs are the top choice of either serving fewer hungry people or providing less food to each other person who comes to their doors of course is frontline charities we rely on the generous support of our donors  volunteers charitable giving alone will not fill the hole and health and human services being left by the severe budget cuts in washington at the state and local level all of which lead to a greater demand for food assistance with an additional hundred fifteen million dollars in snap percent of our revenue comes from private sources we are also the largest non government services in the country local united ways across the country provide support for all manner of programs including food banks such as those operated by my fellow exist in the current united way strongly opposes a cap on charitable deductions as a means of financing health reform or for any other purpose would reduce charitable giving in our ability to help ensure that tocqueville the nineteenth century french philosopher described america as unique among nations for its care and compassion part of the very fabric of our society this core belief is embodied in our federal tax was basically if you give some of your income t good connecting the charitable deduction from the tax rate is a step toward abandoning who we are as a nation and supports those and more importantly as a result of a cap some people will give less and those who need help will be hurt for those