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




                                  SNAP

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Texas (Mr. Veasey) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. VEASEY. Mr. Speaker, there's a cruel war being waged on the poor 
and hungry in America. I stand today as a voice for more than 1.6 
million Texas households who depend on SNAP. Cuts to SNAP, our Nation's 
first line of defense against hunger, are immoral. I will not stand by 
as my Republican colleagues continue to balance the budget on the backs 
of the most vulnerable Americans.
  House Republicans unveiled on Monday a plan to cut over $40 billion 
in SNAP over the next 10 years. This proposed package would eliminate 
basic food assistance for over 4 million Americans, including poor 
jobless adults in areas of high unemployment, working-poor families, 
children, seniors, and even struggling veterans.
  Some might say that the proposal is an attempt to reduce fraud or 
waste in the program. Some say benefits are going to adults who don't 
want to work. I have news for people who say that: you try earning 
minimum wage, working hard every day, and you will still, after working 
40 hours a week at the end of the year, only make around $15,000.
  All of these claims are misleading to the public. SNAP fraud has been 
reduced to about 1 cent per dollar spent on the program, according to 
one of the most recent USDA statistics. In fact, the cuts will come 
from benefits that many Americans need to survive. These cuts will take 
food out of our seniors' refrigerators and food out of the mouths of 
our babies. This new legislation unfairly targets millions of 
unemployed adults who want to find work; but due to a bad economy and a 
sluggish recovery, they cannot find a job.

                              {time}  1030

  This includes Republicans, too. I worked at a grocery store in Texas 
when I was in high school. And I saw Republicans come in from 
Republican strongholds, like Weatherford, Texas, Azle, Lake Worth, and 
they were on SNAP.
  People need to stop stereotyping the program. Proponents claim that 
these cuts represent ``work requirements,'' but that is willfully 
misleading, Mr. Speaker. The provisions would callously terminate food 
aid to people who are willing to work but just can't find a job.
  Just a few short weeks ago, the Republican leadership of this House 
tried to eliminate the SNAP benefits entirely when they stripped the 
nutrition program from the farm bill. This is a cruel assault against 
the most vulnerable and neediest Americans. Those affected by the 
bill's harshest provisions even include low-income veterans, putting 
food assistance at risk for an estimated 170,000 of the approximately 
900,000 veterans who receive SNAP benefits.
  Mr. Speaker, I also participated in the SNAP challenge this year and 
lived on a budget of $4.50 a day and can attest that it was not easy. I 
had to make tough decisions and realized firsthand how difficult it is 
to follow a healthy diet on such a limited budget. I made difficult 
choices, as families do every day, between purchasing nutritious 
options and what's on sale. As a father of a 7-year-old son, I cannot 
imagine the decisions many Texans have to make every day, including 
skipping a meal to provide nutrition for their kids.
  When drafting this legislation, did anyone take the time to think 
about how these SNAP cuts would hurt our kids? Nearly half of all SNAP 
participants are kids. This represents close to one in three children 
in the United States. Without access to nutritious meals, our children 
are put at risk of developmental delays, poorer physical health, and 
many other ailments.
  Mr. Speaker, we need to do everything that we can to keep the SNAP 
program going. The conditions that I have talked about are very serious 
when you think about it affecting a child's ability to learn and 
perform well in school. These long-range implications have dire 
consequences for our entire economy.
  I ask my friends on the other side of the aisle who support these 
cuts, these kids that I just talked about, what did these kids do to 
deserve these cuts?
  This past year, some 49 million Americans lacked access to adequate 
food because they didn't have enough money or other resources to meet 
their basic food needs. Many of these hungry Americans skipped meals or 
took other steps to reduce what they ate to make ends meet.
  I represent a constituent in my district who is elderly, disabled, 
and lives on a fixed income. She received $93 a month in SNAP benefits, 
but recently, those were cut to only $52 a month. That's only $1.73 a 
day. And if this bill is passed, she will be cut off from the program 
entirely. I ask the proponents of this program, where is she to find 
assistance for her nutrition needs? I refuse to stand silent as some 
propose we take food out of the mouths of the hungry.
  SNAP is also a very powerful antipoverty program that has helped make 
our economy stronger. In 2011, SNAP kept 4.7 million people out of 
poverty, including 2.1 million children.

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