Billy Shore

Every Farm Bill reauthorization brings out some of the nation's most powerful lobbyists to ensure that the voices of the companies and interests they represent are not only heard but dominate the debate. Legislative battles are rarely fair fights. This time is no different. But over the past few weeks...

Millions of Americans today still feel the sting of unemployment, rising food and fuel prices and a sluggish economic recovery. However, even as families knocked off course by the economic downturn fight to get back on their feet, Congress is considering slashing funds for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP,...

Today, there are 474,000 New York City children whose families struggle to put enough food on the table. These kids are more likely to have health problems and are more likely to stumble in school. In-classroom breakfast is a practical way to ensure that as many kids as possible benefit...

It is fitting that House Budget Committee Chairman Ryan's budget and The Hunger Games were both released in the same week. Both envision a society in which children must truly fight for their very survival.

But it would be difficult for even Hollywood to overdramatize the degree...

Last week -- the morning after President Obama's State of the Union Speech -- I spoke to 450 National Head Start Association teachers, managers, and leaders on the topic of "sustaining excellence." This group probably has a more direct, personal and intimate understanding of the special challenges facing low-income children...

At times, old-fashioned journalism resurrects itself to achieve its highest purpose, and the proof, ironically, can be found in the response of new social media. My Twitter feed was on fire Sunday night as a result of Scott Pelley's powerful 60 Minutes segment on child poverty, hunger and...

En route from Boston to Anchorage to speak to the Alaska World Affairs Council, it's hard to not be impressed with what a vast country ours is, and just how formidable is the task of ending childhood hunger, or solving any major national problem for that matter.

The New York...

Have you noticed the large inverse correlation between the number of pundits and politicians now saying that President Obama should focus on jobs, and the small number of ideas being put forth to actually create them? One reason we hear so few specific big ideas about creating jobs is that...

Most people assume the debt ceiling deal will make our work in meeting the president's goal of ending childhood hunger by 2015 even harder. In the broad sense that is likely to be the case, especially because the nation's economic growth is much slower than expected and the mandated budget...

The debt ceiling deal has exposed our political system to be a lot like a bad marriage that perpetuates itself only when both parties to it tacitly agree to keep the relationship wholly superficial and at all costs avoid confronting the truth. It requires not only duplicity, but pretense, cynicism,...

The prospect of reduced military expenditures in Afghanistan has already set off speculation about the purposes to which a so-called "peace dividend" might be employed to support domestic needs. A robust debate about resetting domestic priorities would be welcome. But there's another kind of budgetary dividend already at hand and...

The nation's priorities are finally beginning to shift, as President Obama acknowledged last week in his televised address about reducing troops in Afghanistan: "America, it is time to focus on nation building here at home."

That same week the Conference of Mayors approved a resolution...

Amidst all of the relief and self congratulations that a government shutdown was averted, it was almost forgotten that for millions of Americans -- the most vulnerable and voiceless among us -- the government has been effectively shut down for so long it is not even news.

Consider that of...

Governors and mayors around the U.S. are learning to their great surprise that as much as $1 billion available for public food and nutrition programs is going untapped at a time when record numbers of Americans, and especially children, struggle with hunger.

The...

Last week when President Obama traveled to the west coast to dine with technology entrepreneurs including Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg it was announced that the CEO of Intel, Paul Otellini, was being appointed to the President's Council on Jobs and Competitiveness that was established in January and is chaired...

Although they have sharp differences about charter schools, tenure, and other controversial matters, there is at least one issue on which America's teachers are in almost unanimous agreement: being well fed is critical to academic achievement. A new national survey by Lake Research shows that 98 percent of teachers believe...

Last week, prior to the State of the Union, I wrote about my fear that President Obama would feel politically constrained to only give lip service to the fact that 48 million Americans now live in poverty. In retrospect, lip service would have been an improvement.

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The State of the Union speech today will be scrutinized and analyzed based on the President's every word. But I am more concerned about what he doesn't say. All indications are that he will focus on growth and competitiveness and job creation. As the nation struggles to recover from the...

Recent estimates of 48 million Americans living in poverty have been routinely ignored as our political leaders on both sides of the aisle declare that it is the business community, not the impoverished, that needs and deserves our help. President Obama's choice of investment banker and former Secretary of Commerce...

Here's a philosophical variation of the "if a tree falls in a forest" question for you: if 44 million Americans fall below the poverty line, and no one hears it, do they make any sound?

Over the weekend the Washington Post published an article about how little reaction had...