MSNBC Tucker-Transcript

Interview

MSNBC Tucker-Transcript

CARLSON: Getting ready for the big Memorial Day barbecue? Millions of Americans are loading up on food for the holiday weekend and others are not. What would you do if you could only spend 21 dollars a week on food. That‘s what the average recipient of federal food stamps gets in government assistance, 21 dollars a week for food. Democratic Congressman from Massachusetts Jim McGovern is the co-chair of the House hunger caucus. As part of the Congressional Food Stamp Challenge, he has spent the last week living on just three dollars a day. He joins us now. Mr. McGovern, thanks for coming on.

REP. GEORGE MCGOVERN (D), MASSACHUSETTS: Happy to be with you.

CARLSON: So are you hungry.

MCGOVERN: Not today, I had a good breakfast.

CARLSON: What did you eat for the last week?

MCGOVERN: Well, for the last week it was 21 dollars a week, three dollars a day, a dollar a meal. I ate a lot of lentils. I hate some fatty hamburger. I ate beans and pasta, and, you know, basically not what I am used to.

CARLSON: You are co-chairman of the House hunger caucus. If you look at the federal statistics on the question of hunger, the poorer you are, the more likely you are to be obese. The richer you are, the more likely you are to not be obese. Is hunger the problem?

MCGOVERN: No, hunger is a problem. And, believe it or not, obesity is actually related to poverty and to the fact that people are food insecure. You know, what I learned when I was on this food stamp budget for a week is that you can‘t make healthy choices. You know, when I normally go to the supermarket, I try to buy the leanest hamburger, because of a cholesterol problem. But I had to buy the fattiest hamburger because that was the cheaper. You know, organic foods, fresh vegetables; those things are much more expensive than canned vegetables that are filled with sodium. So, a lot of times when people are on these fixed budgets, they buy things to fill them up, but things that are not necessarily healthy for them.

CARLSON: OK, but the two ideas are mutually exclusive. We can‘t have a hunger problem and also an obesity problem striking the same population? Shouldn‘t we be spending our time—obesity kills over 100,000 people in the United States every year, as you know. Starvation kills virtually nobody. Shouldn‘t we be targeting over eating?

MCGOVERN: First of all, it‘s all related to the same thing and that is that people do not have enough to be able to make healthy choices and put food on the table. Let me just say this, there are 35 million Americans in this country who are hungry or food insecure. We‘re the richest country on the planet. And that‘s something that we should be ashamed of.

CARLSON: What does that mean, food insecure? Does that mean they are at risk of being hungry.

MCGOVERN: That means that people go without. That means that people can‘t afford to put food three meals on the table each day.

CARLSON: Then why are they overweight?

MCGOVERN: Well, first of all, not everybody who is on food stamps is overweight. But what I‘m simply saying to you is that a lot of times the issue of obesity is related to poverty because people do not have the money to make healthy choices. If you have three dollars a day and all you can do is buy things that fill you up, there‘s a problem there.

CARLSON: I get that. I just don‘t understand the other part. I don‘t understand where the hungry people fit into this. The hungry and the fat people, are they the same people?

MCGOVERN: No, they‘re not. And believe me, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has documented quite clearly that we have 35 million Americans who are hungry or food insecure. And that is something that everybody in this country should be ashamed of, especially those in the United States Congress.

CARLSON: I don‘t even understand it, so I can‘t be ashamed of it exactly. I still don‘t understand.

MCGOVERN: Well, you know what, I think you could walk in my shoes, and walk through my district and talk to some of the people that I talk to who don‘t have enough to eat and who can‘t feed their families. It‘s pretty evident and it‘s sad and it‘s something we need to do something about.

CARLSON: Is there a malnutrition problem in this country?

MCGOVERN: In some case there are. Go to emergency rooms at our hospitals across the country. They will tell you about the patients that they see.

CARLSON: How many people die of malnutrition in this country every year, Congressman?

MCGOVERN: Well, it may not necessarily be dying of malnutrition, but you may die of other things that are related to a lack of an adequate diet, not eating on a regular basis. Pregnant women who don‘t eat regularly end up giving birth to babies with health problems. You have senior citizens who show up in emergency rooms because they can‘t afford their prescription drugs and their food and they end up having all kinds of other health ailments. But look, the average food stamp benefit is three dollars per person. The minimum food stamp benefit is 10 dollars a month and that hasn‘t changed since the 1970s. There‘s something wrong with that.

CARLSON: Congressman, I appreciate your coming on. Thanks a lot.

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