[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 89 (Thursday, June 20, 2013)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E933]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




       FEDERAL AGRICULTURE REFORM AND RISK MANAGEMENT ACT OF 2013

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                               speech of

                          HON. JOHN D. DINGELL

                              of michigan

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, June 20, 2013

       The House in Committee of the Whole House on the state of 
     the Union had under consideration the bill (H.R. 1947) to 
     provide for the reform and continuation of agricultural and 
     other programs of the Department of Agriculture through 
     fiscal year 2018, and for other purposes:

  Mr. DINGELL. Madam Chair, I rise in opposition to H.R. 1947, the 
Federal Agriculture Reform and Risk Management Act. I would very much 
like to support this legislation. I understand how important it is for 
Congress to pass a five-year Farm Bill to give certainty to farmers 
across the nation and to reauthorize and improve critical nutrition and 
conservation programs. I strongly support many of the reforms made to 
the farm safety net, including the elimination of direct payments and 
an increased focus on crop insurance, a risk management tool which 
actually works. However, the $20 billion in cuts to the Supplemental 
Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) are unconscionable, and for this 
reason I cannot support this bill.
  My Republican colleagues continue to claim that SNAP is growing out 
of control because participation in the program has grown in recent 
years. In fact, this is a sign that SNAP is working as intended. The 
recession left many people in dire financial straits and unable to put 
food on the table to feed their families. For many of my constituents, 
SNAP is an important stop-gap measure to help them during a time of 
need. These people are not asking for a handout. They are simply trying 
to get by. We should be thankful that we have a strong SNAP program as 
a part of our safety net. If the reforms proposed by the GOP were in 
place over the last five years, more Americans would have gone hungry. 
This is unacceptable and is not the direction in which our country 
should be headed.
  I agree that we need to take reasonable steps to stabilize the 
national debt. However, we must not balance our nation's books on the 
backs of the most vulnerable Americans, as this legislation proposes to 
do. My dear friend Senator Debbie Stabenow has a strong, bipartisan 
farm bill which recently passed the Senate overwhelmingly. The Senate 
bill makes smart, targeted cuts to SNAP, and I strongly support this 
legislation. I hope that we can come together in a conference committee 
to pass a good, strong bipartisan farm bill which I can support.

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