Food insecurity among military families unacceptable, advocates say

Advocates want Congress to remember that many troops who should be focused on national security at work are still struggling with food insecurity at home.

On Tuesday, officials from the non-partisan group With Honor and lawmakers from the For Country Caucus gathered near the Washington Monument to plant flags along the National Mall as a reminder of the estimated 325,000 military families currently struggling with hunger and financial hardship.

According to a 2023 study by Rand researchers, nearly 26% of active-duty service members are considered food insecure, and about 15% rely on food stamps or food banks to help support their families.

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“There are a lot of contributing factors for the military recruiting crisis, but one of them is we’re not paying junior enlisted well enough so that they can live without food stamps,” said Rye Barcott, co-founder and CEO of With Honor. “To have a strong military, we need to treat our people the right way.”

Tuesday’s event comes as lawmakers are considering a host of provisions in the annual defense authorization bill that could help with those financial issues.

House lawmakers have proposed pay raises of up to 19.5% for troops ranked E-4 and below next year, bringing nearly all service members’ base salary above $30,000 a year. Senate lawmakers have proposed a 4.5% pay raise for all troops and an additional 1% boost for troops ranked E-3 and below.

Advocates at Tuesday’s event said either move would help, but pushed for a larger pay raise for young military families given the known pressures they face.

The measure also includes boosts in other stipends, as well as changing the formula for food stamp eligibility to allow more military families to receive that assistance.

Rep. Jimmy Panetta, D-Calif. and sponsor of the food stamp eligibility provision, said at the flags event that he’s working to build awareness of the problem with his colleagues and is hopeful Congress will act on the issues later this year.

“It’s embarrassing that there are military men and women and their families who are on food stamps, but it’s our job to make sure that they at least have access to them when they need them,” he said.

He took time to plant several flags with Rep. Nick LaLota, R-N.Y., who expressed similar optimism on the annual defense authorization bill.

“We ask our service members to do a lot, to sacrifice a lot, and ask their families to sacrifice a lot,” he said. “We should provide them at least with the bare minimum, with respect to things like food.”

Lawmakers are expected to break later this week for a month ahead of the November congressional elections. But House and Senate leaders have said they hope to pass a final compromise authorization bill sometime in November or December.