Hunger is bipartisan, and the solution can be, too

After a pair of special elections later this month, a one-vote margin in the state Senate and the first tie since 1979 in the House will give both parties and nearly every individual member the power to influence state policy.
Add to that a state budget forecast showing a lower-than-expected surplus — with deficits looming in a few short years — and it would seem to be a perfect recipe for gridlock at the Capitol.
Meanwhile, Minnesotans are struggling with the stubbornly high cost of living seen here and around the world, post-pandemic. The cost of groceries, housing, energy and other necessities remain 20-30% higher than they were just five years ago. While the budget forecast offered glimpses of hope, with wages rising and inflation cooling, hundreds of thousands of Minnesotans and their families are living paycheck-to-paycheck as a result.
This, in turn, has contributed to what will soon be three consecutive years of record demand for emergency food assistance in Minnesota. Minnesotans struggling to make ends meet visited food shelves more than 7.5 million times in 2023; we expect final 2024 numbers will be even higher. Between the fall of 2022 and the fall of 2023, Second Harvest distributed 141 million pounds of food, which jumped to 167 million pounds the following year.
There is nowhere to go for free electricity, free gasoline, free rent, or free child care – but thanks to our state’s robust hunger relief network, there is a place most Minnesotans can go to get free food when they need it.
This growth in demand is unsustainable. And while it remains to be seen what the next Congress will do, policies being considered at the federal level — including tariffs and cuts to SNAP —could make matters worse, turning a crisis into a catastrophe. (They could also help, whether through passage of a strong, bipartisan Farm Bill that enhances federal nutrition programs or a tax package that primarily benefits low- and middle-income Americans, including by reinvesting in the federal child tax credit, an idea promoted by Vice President-elect JD Vance.)
As Second Harvest Heartland CEO Allison O’Toole said recently, “Hunger doesn’t discriminate by political party or geography, and addressing it head-on should be something that both parties can rally behind next year and in the years ahead.” This is especially true for state lawmakers.
Even considering a challenging budget outlook, investments in hunger relief are both affordable and highly effective, in addition to being urgently needed. The one-time allotments of federal funding released by the administration of Gov. Tim Walz — benefiting food banks, food shelves, and tribal nations alike — led to an infusion of millions of pounds of food into the hunger relief network, as did the one-time funding approved by the Legislature earlier this year. In the face of record demand, however, more is needed.
Minnesota’s Feeding America food banks and our allies are asking for permanent, ongoing funding to address the hunger crisis head-on.
For roughly $20 million — or 0.03% of the general fund budget — legislators could make a major impact on the lives of Minnesotans experiencing food insecurity. The money would create a new and permanent funding stream for food purchasing for food banks and tribal nations. It would boost food shelves’ capacity —including physical infrastructure — and build on the impactful and innovative work of our prepared meals programs and other initiatives to meet people where they are.
Additional state investments in SNAP, including raising the minimum benefit for seniors — a proposal led by our allies at the Food Group with broad support in the hunger relief community — would also help offset any forthcoming changes at the federal level and ought to be prioritized as well.
The return of divided government and budget challenges will force lawmakers to carefully consider how to allocate limited resources over the next two years. No doubt there will be many worthy causes in search of additional funding — many of which we support, as we know that investments in housing, health care, child care and education will help to prevent hunger in our state.
Still, as someone said to me recently, “If you’re going hungry, you only have one problem.” Minnesotans cannot thrive if they do not have enough food, or if they’re living with constant worry about where their next meal will come from. Right now, hundreds of thousands are in that position, with more joining them every day, even while previous investments like the state child tax credit are helping.
Let’s make 2025 the year Minnesota — in bipartisan fashion — decides it is time to make hunger history in our state.
