Possible Pelosi competitor Ryan aligned with Food Policy Action

Rep. Tim Ryan, D-Ohio, who is considering challenging Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., for the House minority leader position, is an advocate of healthy eating who has aligned himself with Food Policy Action, the group started by chef Tom Colicchio to score lawmakers and push for changes to the farm program and federal nutrition programs.

Ryan even attended an event sponsored by Plate of the Union, a coalition in which Food Policy Action is involved, at the Republican convention in Cleveland last summer.

“To balance the budget and get the country healthy, we have to be honest about food policy and agriculture subsidies,” Ryan told The Hagstrom Report at the event, held at Mabel’s BBQ. The government pays for both the farm subsidies and for the health care costs of low-income people who eat in an unhealthy way, he added.

Plate of the Union is an election-year coalition to highlight food issues. It is composed of Food Policy Action; the Union of Concerned Scientists, which advocates for more fruit and vegetable production and other policies; and the HEAL (Health, Environment, Agriculture and Labor) Food Alliance, which has a variety of goals, including better treatment for food workers on farms, in slaughter plants and in restaurants.

Ryan has also urged the Agriculture Department to allow food stamp beneficiaries to buy food through delivery services.

In 2014 Ryan wrote a book, “The Real Food Revolution: Healthy Eating, Green Groceries, and the Return of the American Family Farm.”

–The Hagstrom Report