[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 83 (Monday, May 21, 2007)]
[House]
[Pages H5475-H5476]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          FOOD STAMP CHALLENGE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the order of the House of 
January 4, 2007, the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. McGovern) is 
recognized during morning-hour debate for 5 minutes.
  Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, today is my final day on the Food Stamp 
Challenge, an initiative where public officials eat for 1 week on a 
food stamp budget, $21 for the week. That is $3 a day, or $1 per meal. 
This amount reflects the national average of the food stamp benefit.
  Mr. Speaker, the purpose of the Food Stamp Challenge is to raise 
awareness of the crucial role the food stamp program serves in the 
lives of 26 million Americans each month, including over 450,000 in my 
State of Massachusetts.
  Three of my esteemed colleagues, Representatives Jo Ann Emerson, Jan 
Schakowsky and Tim Ryan, joined me in taking the challenge over the 
past week. And although we may be less energetic and perhaps crankier 
than when we started the challenge nearly a week ago, each of us has 
learned a great deal.
  Certainly my wife, Lisa, and I have gained valuable insights from our 
experience on a very tight budget. We have much more sympathy over how 
the lack of energy and the hard choices of

[[Page H5476]]

how to stretch the budget and put food on the table might also stretch 
one's patience and stress a marriage. We can imagine the worry and pain 
of parents if we had to feed our children on this kind of budget.
  These are just a few of our reflections over the past week. Yet truly 
our most valuable lesson came from the scores of individuals who 
reached out to us to share their personal experiences struggling to put 
food on the table for their families. Whether they posted comments on 
our blog or called my office and spoke with my staff, these individuals 
taught Lisa and me about how hardworking Americans manage to provide 
for themselves and their families in spite of inadequate food stamp 
benefit levels.
  They talked about having to make tough trade-offs between paying 
utility bills, buying clothes for their children, addressing medical 
needs and purchasing food. They also described the trade-off between 
eating to be healthy or eating to be full. These kinds of trade-offs 
are unfair and unacceptable.
  Mr. Speaker, America can and should do more for low-income 
individuals and families working hard to survive each and every day. 
One way we can do that is through the Feeding America's Families Act, a 
bill that I introduced earlier this month with my colleague, 
Congresswoman Jo Ann Emerson.
  The Feeding America's Families Act would strengthen the food stamp 
program to better meet the needs of low-income Americans. It raises the 
minimum benefit from $10 a month--an amount that has not increased 
since the 1970s--to about $30 a month. It also indexes current benefit 
levels to the rate of inflation, ensuring that the purchasing power of 
food stamps remains constant.
  Furthermore, because access to the food stamp program should be the 
right of every lawfully residing person in this country, the bill 
restores eligibility to all legal immigrants, a provision that was 
removed in 1996.
  On Sunday, May 13, Mother's Day, the New York Times editorial stated 
that ``bolstering food stamps must be Congress's top priority in this 
year's farm bill.'' Well, I could not agree more. My week on the Food 
Stamp Challenge has not only strengthened my conviction, I encourage 
all of my colleagues to cosponsor H.R. 2129, Feeding America's Families 
Act, and other legislative efforts to bolster and improve our Federal 
hunger and nutrition programs.
  The cliche tells us that where there's a will there's a way. But in 
this case, there is a very clear way. The question is, do we have the 
political will? I believe we do.

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