[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 161 (Tuesday, October 25, 2011)]
[House]
[Pages H7017-H7018]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        THE FOOD STAMP CHALLENGE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
Illinois (Ms. Schakowsky) for 5 minutes.
  Ms. SCHAKOWSKY. On Thursday, I will join my colleague Representative 
Barbara Lee, Catholic Charities USA, the Jewish Council for Public 
Affairs, the National Council of Churches, and several other Congress 
Members that my colleague mentioned to participate in the Food Stamp 
Challenge, an effort to draw attention to the crisis of hunger in 
America.

                              {time}  1100

  As part of the challenge, participants will eat on the average SNAP 
allotment. That's what we call it now. There's no more food stamps. Now 
people get a card that they can actually use to charge the food. But 
we'll eat on the average SNAP allotment of $1.50 per meal for a week.
  Having participated in this event in the past, I know it is extremely 
difficult to eat a healthy diet under such strict budgetary guidelines. 
Nevertheless, SNAP is the difference between chronic hunger and a basic 
meal for 45 million Americans.
  Now, obviously, that means I'm going to give up any Starbucks coffee. 
But even the $1 coffee that I was able to buy in the cloakroom just 
before I came out here is something that will be just too precious to 
spend. That's almost a whole meal's worth just to buy that cup of 
coffee.
  In 2010, 14.5 percent of American households were food insecure, 
meaning they lacked the capacity to put enough food on their tables. 
They relied on nutrition programs like SNAP to make ends meet.
  In this, the wealthiest country in the world, one out of four 
American children is now food insecure, meaning there are nights that 
they go to sleep hungry. It really is a moral issue, as my colleague 
pointed out.
  The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program--that's SNAP--provides 
an essential safety net for American families. More than half of SNAP 
recipients are children.
  The Republican budget passed in the House--with no Democratic 
support, I might add--would cut $127 billion from SNAP over the next 
decade, a 20 percent cut. The House Agriculture appropriations bill--
passed, again, with no Democratic support--would also cut the SNAP 
program.
  You know, these may be just numbers, $127 billion here and several 
billion dollars there, but their effects are very real for people 
across the country. I recently received dozens of messages on paper 
plates from EZRA Multi-Service Center in Chicago. They rely on SNAP to 
make ends meet, and they

[[Page H7018]]

fear the repercussions of further cuts. The plates answer the question: 
What would happen to you if SNAP benefits are cut?
  Heather C. in Chicago said that it's already hard enough to feed her 
children as it is, and cutting SNAP would mean her kids would suffer. 
She says, ``My food stamps stretch out for about 2 weeks out of the 
month, so if I didn't have them, then it would cost me an extra $250 a 
month to feed my children. Food these days is so expensive, and the 
more help we can get to feed our kids the better.''
  And, by the way, most of the people on the SNAP program are on just 
for a temporary amount of time, just like the Congresswoman said, to 
bridge a gap when they're really in need.
  Jack K. worked for decades as a taxicab driver but retired with very 
little wealth. He says now, ``I now live in subsidized housing and 
depend upon soup kitchens and food pantries for food.''
  An anonymous client from Chicago writes that if SNAP benefits are 
cut, ``it would be impossible for me to feed my four children every 
day. It's bad enough that because of this recession there's a lack of 
jobs. That alone makes it difficult to provide for them. These programs 
give people the temporary help they need to be okay until a job is 
obtained. Please take into consideration the children who depend on 
their parents for survival.''
  One commenter said she needs the program because she lost her life 
savings to cover medical costs which continue to this day. ``Instead of 
being middle class, I am now living below the poverty level,'' she 
says. ``Without assistance, I would be back in a homeless shelter. As 
it is now, I am unable to afford utilities, between my rent and medical 
expenses.''
  And Robert B. in Chicago said the bad economy has left him in long-
term unemployment. ``I lost everything. If my benefits were cut, I 
wouldn't eat for awhile.''
  We have options in this wealthiest country in the world. For example, 
I've introduced H.R. 1124, the Fairness in Taxation Act, which would 
raise revenues by increasing tax rates on the 1 percent richest 
Americans. Income over $1 million a year would be taxed at 45 percent, 
moving up to 49 percent for income over $1 billion. And, by the way, 
that's lower than during the Reagan years.
  So I invite my colleagues to join me in the Food Stamp Challenge and 
learn, just even for a week, what it's like to live on $1.50 a meal.

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