There is an ongoing hunger crisis in America.

Full stop.

According to a report released by the U.S. Department of Agriculture in 2022, as many as 44.2 million people lived in households that had difficulty getting enough food to feed everyone ― an increase from 33.8 million the year prior ― and that figure included more than 13 million children facing food insecurity.

When the report was released, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said in a statement: “These numbers are more than statistics. They paint a picture of just how many Americans faced the heartbreaking challenge last year of struggling to meet a basic need for themselves and their children.”

Much of the fault lay with inflation ― notably rising costs at the grocery store ― and the end of many pandemic-era programs that helped offset these woes.

The problem has not gotten any better. I don’t need a report to confirm it. I can see it with my own eyes. When I walk around parts of Koreatown in Los Angeles or when I drive through the city on a Saturday morning and see long lines of people in need of free food.

Or when I learned that the CEO of Kellogg went on national TV and gleefully shared the company’s strategy to “meet the customer where they are” and advertise cereal for dinner with new Tony the Tiger ads.

“The cereal category has always been quite affordable, and it tends to be a great destination when consumers are under pressure,” Gary Pilnick explained on CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street.”

“We gotta meet the consumer where they are, so we’re advertising cereal for dinner. If you think about the cost of cereal for a family versus what they might otherwise do, that’s going to be much more affordable.”

If only those struggling could eat the rich.

Congress, useless as it may usually be, actually did something to try to directly aid children suffering from this national shame.

It arrived in the form of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s new Summer........

© HuffPost