[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 84 (Thursday, June 13, 2013)]
[House]
[Pages H3365-H3366]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                THE REALITIES OF THE FOOD STAMP PROGRAM

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Minnesota (Mr. Ellison) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. ELLISON. Mr. Chairman, I come before the House today to talk a 
little bit about the food stamp program. I want to talk about it 
because it is proposed in the farm bill that we'll be talking about 
soon that there will be a $20 billion cut from the program.
  Now, I just thought that I would come before the House today, Mr. 
Speaker, to talk about the realistic implications for regular people, 
and maybe even to try to stand against some of the misconceptions that 
people may have about the food stamp program.
  Last Monday, I was in my district and nearby there in St. Paul, and I 
and Betty McCollum sat down with a number of our neighbors and friends 
and colleagues to talk about the food stamp program. And we had three 
groups of people who were talking to us.
  One was a group of people who are using the food stamp program. One 
of them was a senior citizen, and she was working, she was in her early 
sixties, got sick, couldn't work anymore, and was hoping to get to the 
age where she could retire and get her Social Security, get other 
benefits, but she wasn't quite there yet. She got sick before she did, 
and she needed the food stamp program.
  Now, personally, as a taxpaying American, I've got no problem helping 
this wonderful lady meet her food needs.
  Another was a young mom. Actually, she didn't have any money for 
child care, so she brought her baby to the meeting, who was across her 
shoulder in a sort of a wrap. And this young mom explained how she 
tried to get the best options for her baby, wanted to get back to work, 
but, while she was in the middle of trying to find work, needed to have 
good nutrition for her child.
  We also talked with a person who was a young adult, 19-year-old guy, 
didn't get any food stamps until he passed out one day because he 
hadn't been eating.
  And then we talked to a person who was not a food stamp recipient, 
but who was a health care professional in Hennepin County. She 
explained that the food stamp program was essential for good health 
because she had had a number of people, she talked about one woman in 
particular named Mary, who was complaining, was not taking her 
medication. And her doctor said, Mary, you're not compliant on your 
medication. Mary said, well, it hurts my stomach.
  And so when the doctor talked to her more, he found out she wasn't 
eating, so the medication was sitting on her empty stomach. When she 
got some

[[Page H3366]]

food in her stomach, she was able to take her medication and be in 
compliance and stay well so that she could stay out of the emergency 
room.
  So we talked with these folks. Then we talked with people from the 
faith community--Jewish community, Christian community, and Catholic 
community--and all of them said that, look, you know, we do a lot of 
food aid. We're trying to make sure that folks have enough to eat; but 
if the government steps away from nutrition assistance, then that's 
just going to leave a bigger hole for us.
  They talked about how their food shelves were already being used a 
lot, and how they already were struggling to meet the needs of the 
folks who came to them. So at the end of the day, they said, look, you 
know, we're not going to be able to step in where the government steps 
out.
  And so at the end of the conversation, it was clear to me that, aside 
from statistics, aside from all the numbers, there is a human face on 
the food stamp program; and the cuts that have been proposed will be 
devastating.
  Let me just tell you this, Mr. Speaker. If there was a program which 
said that it would improve children's math and reading scores, it would 
prevent diabetes, asthma and depression, it would contribute to healthy 
babies with fewer developmental problems, it would decrease health care 
costs and lower the poverty rate, would you support it?
  That's the food stamp program. It needs to be supported.

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