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More Americans are facing food insecurity as food banks struggle to keep up with demand during President Joe Biden’s third year in office, even as Democrats run away from the White House’s term for his economic policies.
According to Fox News, the nonprofit group Feeding America says that, according to its data, the amount of money Americans earn is not keeping up with the escalating prices of nearly everything they need. As such, the group says that about 1 in 7 people are struggling to feed themselves.
Jen Muzia with the Seattle Ballard Foodbank told the network that operating the food bank has become much more expensive during the Biden era.
“It’s not only our guests that come in to shop. We’re also seeing it on us as we go to buy food. It’s costing us way more to buy food,” she said, adding that her food bank had to buy a lot more this year to keep up with demand.
“For us, we are seeing more than double what we saw pre-pandemic. And then we’ve seen even a greater increase when snap benefits were rolled back in February or March,” she said.
Brian Greene is the President of the Houston Food Bank, and he told Fox News that inflation has had a major impact in a number of ways.
“Food inflation is only running about 3% now, but rent inflation is over 7%. And for low-income or working families, rent can account for about 50% or more of their income. So, as those costs are continuing to go up, the money just isn’t going as far, and food tends to be a flexible expense”, Greene told Fox News.
The Department of Agriculture reported that between 2021 and 2022, 13.5 million more people became food insecure as inflation skyrocketed.
Feeding America’s Vince Hall said: “We estimate that almost 50 million people have visited food banks in the past year seeking help. The Federal and State governments have rolled back nearly all support that was provided for people during the pandemic at the very time that inflation was taking an extra large bite out of their income.”
The only fix, he said, is adding more volunteers and additional donations.
Meanwhile, a majority of Americans blame Biden for the state of the economy. And while Democrats in crucial 2024 swing states were never in love with the term for his economic policies — “Bidenomics” — a report on Wednesday said they have all but abandoned it as the current election cycle heats up.
Biden trotted out the phrase earlier this year after claiming it was first coined by members of the media. NBC News reported, “But early on, it became clear that the phrase wasn’t resonating with voters, and by the end of November, Biden had only used the phrase once since the start of the month.”
However, the network says the phrase never actually caught on with House Democrats.
A study of online posts and congressional office press releases revealed that as many as 18 out of the 19 Democrats representing seats classified as “Toss Up” or “Lean Democrat” by the nonpartisan Cook Political Report and seeking re-election have never utilized the term “Bidenomics.”
“The lone battleground Democrat who has used the term ‘Bidenomics’ is Rep. Marcy Kaptur of Ohio, who used a graphic on X, formerly known as Twitter, with the words ‘Bidenomics works,’ when noting monthly job growth figures,” NBC News added.
Republicans running for those light-blue seats are attempting to saddle incumbent Democrats with the term including Joe Kent, a Republican running for Congress in Washington’s 3rd District against incumbent Democratic Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez. He recently said in a post on X that “Perez-Bidenomics is driving up drug costs.”
Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., the House GOP conference chair, also has pledged to saddle House Democrats with the term, writing on X this week, “Make no mistake House Democrats own #Bidenomics.”
