[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 125 (Friday, September 20, 2013)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1353-E1354]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           NUTRITION REFORM AND WORK OPPORTUNITY ACT OF 2013

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                          HON. YVETTE D. CLARK

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, September 19, 2013

  Ms. CLARKE. Mr. Speaker, today I rise to voice my opposition to H.R. 
3102, the Nutrition Reform and Work Opportunity Act of 2013, which 
calls for $40 billion in cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance 
Program, also known as the SNAP program. This program currently 
provides food assistance to a total of 47 million Americans, 3.1 
million of which are New Yorkers. Without SNAP, these recipients would 
not have access to one of our most basic human needs--food.

[[Page E1354]]

  Four to six million low income Americans, including low income 
children, seniors, and the disabled, will lose their food assistance as 
a result of these cuts. These cuts would come in addition to a benefit 
cut already scheduled to take place in November.
  The SNAP program is a promise our government made to Americans to 
ensure there would be assistance for both the working poor and those 
individuals out of work--including parents and their children--so they 
can afford food. It also helps low income working families whose wages 
are not sufficient to make ends meet.
  I am particularly concerned about the negative impact the cuts will 
have on the nutritional needs of children. If children go to school 
hungry and malnourished, learning becomes even more difficult. The 
worst possible thing we could do is deny healthy meals to needy 
children at a time when they need all the help they can get to succeed 
in the classroom and begin to build productive lives.
  We have seen in recent years that families continue to face a 
shortage of jobs or are being paid wages too low to lift them out of 
poverty. This legislation does nothing to help this group of Americans 
and will lead to even greater costs in the long run.
  One thing we should all remember is that increasing hunger is not the 
answer to reducing the deficit.

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