home
RSS
Your food, your vote
A new coalition rates Congress' votes on issues including farm subsidies, food safety and anti-hunger policies.
October 23rd, 2012
09:02 PM ET

Your food, your vote

Editors' note: Tom Colicchio talks about food and your vote on "Sanjay Gupta MD," Saturday at 4:30 p.m. ET and Sunday at 7:30 a.m. ET.

Jobs… Obamacare… Iran… and food?

Voters looking for a reason to support or oppose a candidate will find new ammunition in the first-ever “National Food Policy Scorecard,” created by a coalition of non-profits including environmental advocates, anti-hunger groups and activists including “Top Chef’s” lead judge and restauranteur Tom Colicchio.

“I don’t think the average person thinks this stuff through,” says Colicchio, who sees a link between government policy and what families put on the table.  “When you see people who are struggling, and buying fast food for kids, it’s not because they think it’s great for you.  It’s because it’s cheap.  And it’s cheap because the government subsidizes corn, wheat and soy.  That’s what we’re supporting with our tax dollars.  What if we took that money and put it towards farmers growing fresh, organic vegetables?”

The new coalition is organized as a 501(c)(4) organization, under the name “Food Policy Action.”  A 501(c)(4) can actively lobby members of Congress and is not considered a charity.

The group rated members of Congress on 14 House votes and 18 Senate votes on issues including farm subsidies, food safety, nutrition, organic food production and anti-hunger policies.  They also scored votes involving animal welfare and farm labor.

The members are generally aligned with liberal causes, and the new rankings are heavily tilted towards Democrats.

Thirty-five Democratic Senators received higher scores than the top-ranking Republican, Sen. Scott Brown of Massachusetts, while 130 Democratic House members scored better than the highest-rated Republicans, Rep. Jon Runyan and Rep. Frank LoBiondo – both from New Jersey.

On the other end, 31 Senate Republicans rank below the group’s lowest-rated Democrat, Sen. Claire McCaskill of Missouri.  Two hundred four of the 242 House Republicans scored below the lowest-rated Democratic congressman, Rep. Jason Altmire of Pennsylvania.

Colicchio says food policy wasn’t always a partisan issue, and points to the close partnership in the early 1970s, between senators Bob Dole (R-Kansas) and the late George McGovern (D-South Dakota), who died this week at age 90.  That partnership led to a massive expansion of the food stamp program.

“They saw children dying of starvation, and they were furious about what they saw,” says Colicchio. “They pretty much eradicated hunger until the 1980s.”

Colicchio, whose mother ran a school lunch program in Elizabeth, New Jersey, notes that food policy wasn’t even mentioned in the presidential debates.  He says Food Policy Action's first goal is to grab a seat at the table.

“There’s a problem out there that can be fixed, and if enough people believe this is a problem, then I hope those people can get their representatives to pay attention to this.”

 Post by:
Filed under: Diet and Fitness • Healthy Eating • Public Health
Next entry »
« Previous entry
soundoff (85 Responses)
  1. Shannon Sapia

    Earn 2000 a Month With Our Passive Income System – Best Autopilot income system 2021

    https://smmsupreme.com/

    February 6, 2021 at 05:05 | Report abuse | Reply
  2. vuasongbac

    Nice recipe

    https://images.google.as/url?q=https://www.vuasongbac.com.com

    February 6, 2021 at 17:26 | Report abuse | Reply
  3. zortilo nrel

    My spouse and i got peaceful when Edward managed to finish off his investigation while using the precious recommendations he discovered through the blog. It's not at all simplistic to just choose to be giving for free tips and tricks that some people could have been making money from. We realize we have you to give thanks to for this. The explanations you've made, the simple blog navigation, the friendships your site help to foster – it is mostly excellent, and it's really assisting our son and the family know that this theme is enjoyable, which is certainly rather fundamental. Many thanks for all the pieces!

    http://www.zortilonrel.com/

    February 7, 2021 at 09:17 | Report abuse | Reply
  4. vuasongbac

    Awesome cooking!

    https://maps.google.st/url?q=https://www.vuasongbac.com

    February 8, 2021 at 09:56 | Report abuse | Reply
  5. thesufitrader

    Awesome content

    http://www.astro.wisc.edu/?URL=https://www.thesufitrader.com

    February 8, 2021 at 10:09 | Report abuse | Reply
  6. Eusebio Parmley

    I've heard it a million times... I'm going to quit my job, I'm going to start my own business, I'm going to live where I want, and I'm going to live the dream... Enough talk. Everyone's got a vision. Fine. What exactly have you done lately to make it come true? Not much, you say? If everyone suddenly got injected with the truth serum, you'd hear people talk a different game: Hi, my name is Dave. I've got huge dreams. But I'm a failure, because I did nothing to make these dreams come true. I'm too afraid to start. I procrastinate about taking action. I will probably never do anything or amount to anything in my life, because I choose to stay in my comfort zone. Incidentally, the first step to changing your life is to be honest about how you feel. Are you afraid? Fine. Are you anxious? Fine. Do you procrastinate? Great. This means you have to start with a tiny step. Something that isn't as intimidating as making a million dollars in the next 12 months. How about making your first $100.00 online? Doesn't sound too far out of reach, right? Here's a great place to start http://jtayl.me/4nw13

    http://tvc.in/2vp3l

    February 9, 2021 at 03:47 | Report abuse | Reply
  7. Europa-Road

    Hey very cool blog!! Man .. Beautiful .. Amazing .. I will bookmark your site and take the feeds also…I am happy to find numerous useful information here in the post, we need develop more techniques in this regard, thanks for sharing. . . . . .

    https://europa-road.eu/

    February 9, 2021 at 04:04 | Report abuse | Reply
  8. https://www.shinsen-mart.com

    This is something New !

    https://images.google.li/url?q=https://www.shinsen-mart.com

    February 10, 2021 at 01:38 | Report abuse | Reply
  9. 1500 USA-Visitors-Daily

    1,000,000 GSA Live Backlinks High Quality SEO links + Bad Links Removal: https://www.seoclerk.com/Link-Building/842081/1-000-000-GSA-Live-Backlinks-High-Quality-SEO-links-Bad-Links-Removal

    https://www.seoclerk.com/Traffic/840816/1500-USA-Visitors-Daily-For-30-Days-From-Niche-Targeted-Organic-Traffic-From-Google

    February 16, 2021 at 11:43 | Report abuse | Reply
  10. SocialMedia Services2021

    Social network traffic Facebook likes Twitter Followers Instagram Followers and much more. Our Website: https://smmsupreme.com/

    https://bit.ly/3iVO2Vh

    February 19, 2021 at 14:24 | Report abuse | Reply
  11. w88

    w88Our breeding modules are designed in a fashion to progress to Department of Education Sir Thomas More amusing and interesting.

    http://www.w88casino.net/w88/

    March 5, 2021 at 19:00 | Report abuse | Reply
1 2

Post a comment


  

CNN welcomes a lively and courteous discussion as long as you follow the Rules of Conduct set forth in our Terms of Service. Comments are not pre-screened before they post. You agree that anything you post may be used, along with your name and profile picture, in accordance with our Privacy Policy and the license you have granted pursuant to our Terms of Service.
Next entry »
« Previous entry
Advertisement
About this blog

Get a behind-the-scenes look at the latest stories from CNN Chief Medical Correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, Senior Medical Correspondent Elizabeth Cohen and the CNN Medical Unit producers. They'll share news and views on health and medical trends - info that will help you take better care of yourself and the people you love.