[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 123 (Wednesday, September 18, 2013)]
[House]
[Pages H5593-H5594]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                                  SNAP

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
California (Ms. Lee) for 5 minutes.
  Ms. LEE of California. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to talk about the 
ongoing Republican war on the poor--and that's what this is--and their 
attempt to gut our Nation's critical safety net against hunger one more 
time.
  This past June, the Republican leadership failed millions of farmers 
and millions of struggling families when they could not pass a farm 
bill. They allowed the extremist Tea Party fringe of their party to 
poison the farm bill with amendments and so-called reforms that, in 
fact, would only increase hardship and hunger in America.
  Yet instead of working across the aisle to find a better solution 
that would create jobs and protect families, the Republican leadership 
has chosen to bring an even more hurtful, toxic, and heartless 
nutrition bill to the floor. This new bill includes all of the 
extremist amendments that killed the first farm bill. It also piles on 
even more restrictions and so-called reforms that only serve to 
increase hardship for hungry families, children, seniors, and veterans.
  These false reforms will dramatically reduce access to vital 
nutrition assistance all across America--rural and urban--in every 
single one of our congressional districts.
  This bill would also end critical flexibilities for our States and 
would cripple smart and targeted programs that allow States to 
efficiently deliver nutrition assistance to the neediest. For example, 
the Republican nutrition-only bill would end categorical eligibility 
for all of our States.
  We created this to streamline the delivery of social services so that 
we can lower administrative costs and put more of these dollars 
directly into the hands of needy families. This Republican bill would 
end those efficiencies, raise costs for our States, and make it harder 
for families to get the help they need.
  This bill also claims to create work requirements for able-bodied 
adults. Let me remind my colleagues that the SNAP program already has 
very restrictive work requirements. The current SNAP program cuts off 
able-bodied adults after just 3 months of benefits right now. We only 
allow States to adopt waivers for when unemployment in their States 
rises high enough that this restriction is clearly unreasonable. The 
new so-called ``reforms'' would cut everybody off, no matter what the 
unemployment rate is in their State. This is just heartless. These cuts 
would come at a time when the Republicans have blocked every single 
effort to pass a real jobs bill in the House and cut job-training and 
job-placement assistance. Let me tell you, as a former food stamp 
recipient myself, I know that people don't want to be on food stamps. 
They want to work. If we're going to put work requirements on people, 
why in the world don't we pass a jobs bill so they can work?
  At a time when our Nation should be creating opportunities for all, 
the House Republican leadership proposed to cut SNAP by $40 billion. 
This will surely create a bleaker future for our children, our seniors, 
and our overall economy. If this bill ever becomes law--and I hope it 
doesn't--at least 4 million to 6 million low-income children, seniors, 
and families will be cut from this economic lifeline and pushed into 
poverty.
  Similar to about 29 of my colleagues, I have taken the food stamp 
challenge about three times and ate off of $4.50 a day. It was 
unhealthy and very difficult; yet I knew it would only last a week for 
me. Yet millions of Americans see no end in sight. And now, mind you, 
they have to worry that this meager benefit, this pittance, is going to 
be cut even more.
  Instead of gutting SNAP, we need to strengthen it. Not only does SNAP 
help put food on the table for struggling families; it also helps 
stimulate economic growth. For every $1 in SNAP benefits, we generate 
$1.70 in economic activity. So Congressman Conyers and I have 
introduced new legislation that would extend the SNAP benefits that 
were increased as a part of the stimulus package. Otherwise--and many 
don't know this--on November 1, every single family or individual who 
receives SNAP benefits now will see an automatic cut of about $29 per 
month for a family of three. This will happen regardless of this $40 
billion nutrition cut.
  In 2011, SNAP lifted 4.7 million Americans out of poverty. Without 
SNAP, millions more would fall into poverty, millions more of Americans 
would suffer hunger, and our economy would create even fewer jobs and 
be worse off.
  I just have to say, our values as Americans and who we are as a 
country recognize that these despicable cuts are immoral and un-
American. We need to provide opportunities to help lift families out of 
poverty, grow the economy, and create economic stability for

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all. Let's restore a unified farm bill, and let's put an end to these 
draconian cuts to SNAP.

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