The Washington Post’s Amy Goldstein had a thoughtful piece this weekend on the federal government’s efforts to combat hunger so far in the Obama administration. As a presidential candidate, Barack Obama made the seemingly impossible pledge to end childhood hunger in the U.S. — impossible, that is, because childhood hunger is hardly an administration priority. Congress and the administration have definitely tackled the issue: a $20 billion expansion of the federal food stamp program that, as the New York Times reported two weeks ago, has helped lead to 20,000 people a day signing up for food stamps.

But the money that could be spent to end childhood hunger has instead gone to questionable national security priorities like an escalation of the Afghanistan War. It’s also gone to equally questionable domestic spending priorities: Congress and the administration agreed to hand out tax credits to people with six figure incomes to buy homes. Meanwhile, Goldstein reports that one in five homes in Philadelphia with a baby or toddler didn’t have enough food.

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