[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 14 (Tuesday, February 15, 2000)]
[House]
[Page H416]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




       INTRODUCTION OF MILITARY FAMILY FOOD STAMP TAX CREDIT BILL

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Jones) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. JONES of North Carolina. Mr. Speaker, I want to read part of a 
transcript from the June 25 edition of ``20/20'' which featured a story 
on our military families who cannot make ends meet. I quote from the 
transcript.
  ``We begin with a shameful story about the men and women we count on 
to protect us, members of the United States armed services. They are 
prepared to die for us, but did you know that some of them must stand 
in food lines to help feed their families?''
  Again, I quote from the transcript:
  ``It is a shocking sight to see proud American soldiers accepting 
charity and Federal aid just to get by.''
  The show also featured a 26-year-old computer operations specialist 
who has served 6 years in the Navy, Mr. Speaker, but makes only $18,000 
a year to care for his wife and three children. He said, and I quote, 
``I've talked to managers at fast food restaurants who make more money 
than I do. And I'm prepared to die for my country if necessary. And 
sometimes that seems really unfair.''
  A reported 600,000 enlisted troops, almost half the entire military 
base, make a base salary of $18,000 or less. On May 21 of last year, 
``CBS This Morning'' did a profile during its ``Eye on America'' on the 
state of our military families. The reporter interviewed a church 
volunteer and former military wife by the name of Pat Kallenbarger who 
works to help our military families in need.
  She said, and I quote, ``It's not unusual for me to find a family 
sleeping on the floor for lack of beds and eating on the floor because 
they don't have a table and chairs, and they don't have the money to 
either buy them or rent them.''
  I further quote:
  ``I find babies in cardboard cartons. They'd be in a dresser drawer, 
except the family doesn't own a dresser.''

                              {time}  1615

  Mr. Speaker, this is shameful. These are our military families. In 
fact, I introduced a bill, H.R. 1055, a year ago, that would help give 
these men and women on food stamps a $500 tax credit. I am urging our 
leadership, both Republican and Democrat, this year to please make sure 
before we end this session in October that we have spoken to this issue 
of our men and women on food stamps.
  Mr. Speaker, I have before me a Marine. This Marine is holding in his 
arms his baby daughter named Bridgett, and the young lady standing on 
his feet is his 3-year-old daughter named Megan.
  Mr. Speaker, this Marine is getting ready to deploy for Bosnia. The 
sad part of all of this, this Marine represents all of our men and 
women in uniform and represents those 600,000 that are making under 
$18,000.
  We must remember that these men and women that are willing to die for 
this country, 60 percent of them have families. I think about this 
little girl, Megan, because you can see in her eyes a concern, and 
maybe that concern even at that young age is the fact that her daddy 
might leave and never come back. I do not know. But I do know this, Mr. 
Speaker, as a Member of this Congress, that those of us on both sides 
of the political aisle, we have an obligation, and in fact I think it 
is deplorable and unacceptable that we have not begun to help those men 
and women in uniform on food stamps.
  So I urge my colleagues, we have about 80 Members of this House, both 
Republican and Democrat, on this bill, and I encourage my colleagues to 
please join me in this effort to make sure that this year, before we 
leave, that we do something tangible to help those men and women on 
food stamps.

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