ウィスパリング同時通訳研究会コミュのPresident Biden Delivers Remarks at the White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health

Speaker 1: (00:00)
Welcome to the White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition and Health. Please welcome the US Secretary of Agriculture Thomas Vilsack.

Speaker 2: (00:18)
Good morning. Thank you very much. Welcome. It’s my privilege to open today’s conference and thank you all who have traveled across our great country to be here and to those who are participating virtually, who played a role in bringing this conference to life. A president once wrote the following, “The conference has significant responsibilities to explore and define our nutrition problems and to map out recommendations for an immediate program of action. During these days of stress, the health problems of the military and civilian population are inseparable. The full energy of every American is necessary. In recent years, scientists have made outstanding discoveries as to the amounts and kinds of foods needed for maximum health and vigor. Yet every survey of nutrition, by whatever means conducted, showed that undernourishment is widespread and serious.” That president was Franklin Delano Roosevelt, in writing in an introduction to the 1941 National Nutrition Conference for Defense.
(01:23)
What was true in 1941 and in 1969 at the first White House conference on food, nutrition, and health is still true today. Food and nutrition security are central to our national security and to our economic future. The first White House conference on Food and Nutrition more than 50 years ago made significant progress towards reducing food insecurity.
(01:48)
Today, USDA runs nutrition assistance programs that serve one in four Americans every year. However, food and nutrition insecurity still remains unacceptably high. We also face a rising prevalence of disease related diet related diseases like Type 2 diabetes, obesity, hypertension, which disproportionately impact underserved communities. There’s been progress. Food security among households with children is at its lowest point in two decades. I’m encouraged by this, but all of us in attendance today would agree that much more needs to be done.
(02:25)
This conference matters, and we should all thank Senators Booker and Bran, Chairman McGovern, and the late Congresswoman Linsky for their leadership in calling for this summit. And, of course, none of this would be possible without President Biden’s call for an all of government effort outlined in the National Strategy published yesterday, a national strategy crafted with the advice, guidelines, and input of hundreds of stakeholders from across the country.
(02:50)
Today, we’ll hear from a variety of partners engaged in delivering results in the five pillars identified in that national strategy. Pillar one focuses on improving access and affordability of food to tackle this issue. One key proposal supported by the National Strategy is ensuring all Americans are economically secure, including through a child tax credit.
(03:10)
Pillar two outlines how we can better integrate nutrition and healthcare. We’re elevating the role of nutrition and food security in overall healthcare, including through disease prevention and management. For example, here, the strategy supports piloting Medicare coverage of meals that are crafted to prevent or to treat diet-related diseases.
(03:44)
Pillar three seeks to empower customers to make healthy choices by making those choices more accessible. One proposal supports the expansion of incentives for healthy foods in SNAP and for boosting local food systems, which can create jobs and support local economies, especially in rural America.
(04:01)
Pillar four reminds us of the important role that physical activity plays in concert with the food and nutrition security to lead to better health. We’re going to make it easier for people to be more physically active and increase the awareness of the benefits of physical activity. That’s why the National Strategy supports investing in efforts to connect people to parks and other outdoor spaces.
(04:22)
Pillar five centers on bolstering funding for nutrition research so we can advance evidence-based policy making, particularly on issues of equity, access, and disparities.
(04:33)
Now under the Biden-Harris administration, USDA is proud to have already taken significant steps towards promoting food and nutrition security, in partnership with agencies across the federal family. Last year, USDA modernized the Thrifty Food Plan, which serves as the basis for SNAP benefits. This resulted in the first permanent increase purchasing power of SNAP benefits in 45 years. In doing so, we lifted 2.3 million people out of poverty, including nearly 1 million of our children. Earlier this month, USDA announced $2 billion in additional funding to food banks and school meal programs for purchasing American-grown foods. And just last week, we launched a new $100 million initiative called the Healthy Meals Incentives Initiative to improve the nutritional quality of our school meals. But we’re just getting started, and I want to highlight the proposed pathway to the National Strategy Meals.
(05:48)
This is a core intervention to improve child health, hunger, and health. And recent research demonstrates that school meals provide the healthiest food a child eats during the day. The proposal reorients this important program as a key health tool to provide the highest quality meals and to engage children around healthy choices. And we also increase access to local and regional foods, enabling more schools to cook meals from scratch by funding, training, and equipment purchases, investing in robust school nutrition workforce, and expanding nutrition education for our children.
(06:21)
These changes are crucial, however, the federal government cannot do them alone. We’re hosting this conference to bring together local governments and private businesses, including food companies, grocery stores, non-profits, researchers, and healthcare providers to unite around a vision put forward in this strategy. To jumpstart this effort today, the White House announced bold commitments from the nation’s businesses, philanthropic and nonprofit sectors. It’s going to take these groups and many others to end hunger and improve nutrition.
(06:51)
To compliment the Bold School meals proposal I just described, the national nonprofit FoodCorps will mobilize $250 million to impact 500,000 students per year over the next eight years to increase access to free and nourishing school meals, and to expand hands-on nutrition, education and schools through their Nourishing Futures initiative. Meijer, the Midwest Super chain store will receive USDA approval to offer a new incentive in its SNAP customers to buy nutritious foods. Starting this fall, Meijer will offer its SNAP customers discounts to purchase quality foods, fruits, and vegetables. This is personal to each of us. It touches all of us. As we embark on this conference, I want all of us to take a moment to recognize the significance of what we are about to do. Something like this hasn’t happened in more than 50 years. Let’s keep the momentum of today going in a new and meaningful, strong way so that we can fully meet this important moment for our children, for our community, and for our country. Thank you.

Speaker 3: (08:23)Please welcome to the stage Jimmieka Mills, co-founder, Equitable Spaces.

Speaker 4: (08:38)
Great morning, all. I’m Jimmieka Mills, a researcher, writer, and mother. Originally from Oakland, California, but currently living in Houston, Texas. As a child, I experienced firsthand the impacts of poverty, hunger, and homelessness on my mind, my body and my soul, and those of my family and others in my community…QQQ
(09:03)
Those of my family, and others in my community. I know what it’s like to not know where your next meal will come from, both as a child and as a parent. So I know, truly know, why programs like WIC, SNAP, P-EBT, and Universal Free School Meals are so critical to my health and wellbeing, and the health and wellbeing of my family, my community, and this country. As a parenting student attending community college, I face barriers accessing student aid, stable housing, childcare, and food. I realized they were often the result of policy solutions that were not informed by those directly impacted by them, like me. That’s what led me to found Equitable Spaces along with my friend and Co-Founder Diane Sullivan. Our mission is to create opportunities for people with lived experience to be heard and included in the design of equitable policy solutions. This conference represents an historic opportunity for us to learn directly from those most impacted, lift up programs that have helped so many people, and to create solutions that ensure that no one, in a country with the most abundant food system in the world, ever goes hungry again.

Speaker 4: (10:59)
This is why today I’m so excited to join you all in this room. Particularly those of you with lived experience, as we seek to end hunger, reduce diet related diseases, and eliminate health disparities, demonstrating what is possible when we are guided by those with lived experience. Mr. President, it is my highest, highest honor of this life, aside from giving birth to my child, David, I love you, but such an honor to share the stage with you, and to thank you personally for your leadership. It is now my esteemed honor to introduce you all to our President, Joe Biden.

President Biden: (11:53)
Hello everybody. Don’t jump. Please, sit down. Sit down. She’s awful good, isn’t she? She’s really good. Shameka, thank you for joining us for this historic conference on Hunger, Nutrition & Health. Before I began, speaking of health, you all have been reading and hearing about Hurricane Ian, and its impact it’s going to have on our fellow Americans down in Florida. Yesterday I spoke with Governor DeSantis for some time. My team has been in constant contact with him from the very beginning, and the mayors of Tampa, St. Pete’s, and Clearwater.
(13:06)
My message has been absolutely clear. We are on the alert and in action. We’ve approved every request Florida has made for temporary assistance, emergency shipments, long-term assistance, that I’ve received. We discussed what we’ve done to prepare for the hurricane. That includes dispatching hundreds of FEMA personnel, and activating thousands of National Guard members. I’ve also developed a search and rescue team and deployed them to multiple federal agencies, and they’re already on the ground and ready to help, as we speak.
(13:41)
FEMA prepositioned, literally, millions of liters of water, millions of meals, and hundreds of generators. We’ve a scheduled everything we can possibly do, we think, so do the mayors and governor. We have put up shelters, they’re ready. We’re not sure exactly where it’s going to hit, but it’s pretty getting pretty clear exactly where it’s going to hit. I made it clear to the governor and the mayors that the federal government is ready to help in every single way possible.
(14:10)
Now, I want to repeat what I said yesterday to the people of Florida. This storm is incredibly dangerous, to state the obvious. It’s life-threatening. You should obey all warnings and directions from emergency officials. Don’t take anything for granted. Use their judgment, not yours. Evacuate when ordered. Be prepared. The storm warnings are real. The evacuation notices are real. The danger is real. When the storm passes, the federal governments can be there to help you recover. We’ll be there to help you clean up and rebuild, to help Florida get moving again. We’ll be there at every step of the way. That’s my absolute commitment to the people in the state of Florida. If you’ll forgive me, I want to add one more warning. That’s warning to the oil and gas industry executives. Do not, let me repeat, do not use this as an excuse to raise gasoline prices or gouges the America people. The price of oil has stayed relatively low. It kept going down. The price of gas should be going down, as well. My experts informed me the production of only about 190,000 barrels a day has been impacted by the storm thus far. That’s less than 2% of the United States daily production impacted for a very short period of time.
(15:45)
This small temporary storm impact on oil production provides no excuse. No excuse for price increases at the pump, none. If gas companies try to use this storm to raise price of the pump, I will ask officials to look into whether price gouging is going on. America’s watching, the industry should do the right thing. As a matter of fact, they should move more quickly now to bring down the price at the pump, because the price of gasoline is down a great deal. There’s too much of a delay between the price of barrel of oil and the price of gasoline at the pump.
(16:24)
Now, to why we’re all here for this on this historic day. The sector of Agriculture already said everything, so I’m leaving. You did. So I apologize to you for any repetition that may occur here. But all kidding aside, it’s been over 50 years to state the obvious, you all know it well, since President Nixon convened the original White House conference on Hunger, Nutrition, & Health. That single conference, and the laws that it inspired, led it transformational change that has helped millions of Americans live healthier lives for generations. Since that time, advances in research and medicine have taught us so much more about nutrition and health.
(17:16)
Today I’m convening in this conference again, because I believe we can use these advances to do even more to make America a stronger and a healthier nation. So many of you know so much about this as well, and you’re committed. I want to thank all of you here, including bipartisan elected officials, like Representative of Government, Senator Braun, Senator Booker. Representative Jackie, are you here? Where’s Jackie? I didn’t think she was going to be here to help make this a reality. Thanks to Senator Stabenow, Representative DeLauro for their leadership. Here today, we have advocates and activists. José Andrés, you heard of him, haven’t you? Last time we hung out on the Ukrainian border in Poland, and leaders of business, labor, agriculture, faith, and philanthropy, and to achieve ambitious goals that I know we can do if we work together. I really do know we can do this, end hunger in this country by the year 2030 and lower the toll that diet related diseases takes on far too many Americans. This goal is within our reach. Just look at how far we’ve come on child poverty. 30 years ago, as reference, one in four children lived below the poverty line. Today, one in twenty live below the poverty line. So I know we can take tackle hunger as well, and I’ve released a national strategy to meet that bold goal, a strategy that has three key principles.
(18:55)
First, help more Americans. So this again, help more Americans access the food that will keep their families nourished and healthy. A lot of food deserts out there. Second, give folks the option and information they need to make healthy dietary choices. Thirdly, help more Americans be physically active. People want to be. Lots of times there’s no places to go to be active from where they live. The good news is we’ve already been laying a strong foundation for this work. Soon after I came to office, I signed what was called the American Rescue Plan into law. It helped put food on the table and keep a roof over the heads of millions of American families and helped our economy create nearly 10 million new jobs, most jobs created in that timeframe in American history.
(19:45)
A key piece of the American Rescue Plan is the expanded Childcare Tax Credit. Where is she? The gentlewoman from Connecticut. I see. Overwhelmingly, working families use the Child Tax Credit to buy food and other basic needs for their families, and it’s helped cut child poverty by nearly 50% in the United States. 50%. And it cut food insecurity for families by 26%. Look folks, people are constantly looking at federal programs to see which ones are working and which ones are ineffective. Well, during the pandemic, we had a real world example right in front of us. The expanded childcare tax cut is one of the most effective programs we’ve ever seen, and that’s why my national strategy calls on Congress to expand the child credit permanently. Permanently.
(20:49)
You got to do it. We tried. We couldn’t get it done the first time. We’ll get it done this time. At the same time, I remain committed to protecting workers’ rights and fair wages and collective bargaining, including workers who grow, produce and process our food, who transport it to grocery stores, who stock the grocery shelves, so they too can afford to feed their families. Look, folks, my strategy would also make permanent an American Rescue Plan program that has made sure families, including over 30 million children, had money to buy groceries in the summer months, so kids don’t go hungry when school is in the session.