Hunger is a Policy Choice: Ohio Can and Must Do Better

Every day, volunteers across central Ohio deliver meals to homebound seniors, which is often their only guaranteed source of food for the day. But now, federal funding cuts have put those meals at risk. The Columbus Dispatch recently highlighted how Trump’s actions threaten Meals on Wheels services for thousands and the security of Ohio’s seniors and families.

Almost immediately following the President’s inauguration, the Trump administration’s federal funding freezes have caused chaos as thousands of individuals have found themselves unemployed, farmers have seen purchase agreements with the government cancelled, and grants for cancer and environmental research have been suspended. Meals on Wheels is a program that relies on federal dollars through the Older Americans Act, and when that pipeline is disrupted, local programs scramble, seniors panic, and meals disappear.

According to the Dispatch’s reporting, federal funds for Meals on Wheels are expected to run out in June, and future funding has yet to be approved. Without federal assistance, seniors relying on the program will have to turn to family members and friends for meal assistance or simply go hungry.

Meanwhile, Ohio’s Republican-led legislature is doubling down on this cruelty with a deeply concerning and harmful state budget proposal to slash food bank funding by nearly 25%. At a time when food insecurity is rising, framing such a proposal as fiscally responsible is disturbing. This is a conscious decision to abandon the most vulnerable residents of our state.

Hunger is a policy choice. Ohio has enough food to feed its people, but the problem lies in how it is distributed. The same politicians who handed out tax breaks to corporations and our wealthiest residents are now telling working families to tighten their belts. They argue about “unsustainable” spending while children go to school hungry and seniors ration medication to afford groceries. My colleague, Senator Kent Smith, understands this injustice. His bipartisan bill to provide universal school breakfasts and lunches for Ohio students is a proposal born out of compassion and common sense. When kids are fed, they learn better. When seniors are not abandoned, communities thrive.

But the national Republican leadership would rather protect profits than people. The Greater Cleveland Food Bank recently lost 500,000 pounds of food due to federal cuts, and the state’s answer is to hamstring them further. Food banks are not a luxury; they are a lifeline. Nearly half a million Ohioans relied on the Cleveland Food Bank last year, 25% of them for the first time. Behind every one of these statistics is a person, one of our neighbors, who will struggle just to feed themselves and their families if this budget is passed in its current form.

The solution to Ohio’s food insecurity problem starts with abandoning the notion that cutting taxes for the wealthy will provide any benefit besides making those individuals richer. Then, we need to expand meal programs in our state. Senator Smith’s bill is a start, but we must be bolder. If we can subsidize private school tuition, we can feed our elders. If we can fund billionaires’ stadiums, we can stock food pantries.

In the most prosperous country on the planet, hunger is not a natural disaster. It is a political choice. Ohio’s families deserve better, and many of our elected representatives are not doing enough to provide needed relief.