MILWAUKEE — U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore is fighting against looming cuts to hunger programs.
Moore joined members of the Hunger Task Force to talk to a group of seniors at Northcott Neighborhood House on Thursday morning.
The congresswoman urged the crowd to contact Wisconsin Sens. Herb Kohl and Ron Johnson to stop them from passing an agriculture spending bill.
The measure would cut $38 million from the Stockbox program. Stock boxes are monthly food deliveries to low-income families.
Other hunger and nutrition programs on the chopping block are food stamps and Women, Infants and Children, or WIC.
The Republican-controlled house already passed the bill.
Moore said this could affect about 5,000 WIC children and almost 11,000 seniors in Wisconsin.
“This is a very personal issue for me. Food prices are going up, and this is a basic human need, and this is very, very painful for me, to think about people being hungry,” Moore said.
There’s no word on when the U.S. Senate will vote on the agriculture spending bill, but if they do it soon, it could go into effect in October.