[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 128 (Wednesday, September 25, 2013)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1366-E1367]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           NUTRITION REFORM AND WORK OPPORTUNITY ACT OF 2013

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                          HON. DANNY K. DAVIS

                              of illinois

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, September 19, 2013

  Mr. DANNY K. DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, when the voting took 
place for H.R. 3102, the Nutrition Reform and Work Opportunity Act of 
2013, unfortunately, I was unable to be present to vote. Had I been 
present, I would have voted no for the following reason:
  The bill, H.R. 3102, would cut $40 billion from the Supplemental 
Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), which will adversely affect poor 
people and lower benefits to households with children. Seventy-six 
percent of SNAP's recipients are households with children. SNAP is an 
anti-hunger program that is immensely effective in providing assistance 
to a minimum of 47 million individuals and families across America. In 
addition to food benefits, SNAP educates people on ways as to how one 
may use food dollars wisely and live a healthier lifestyle by promoting 
the importance of nutrition. A key component of SNAP is their ``No Kid 
Hungry'' campaign, which, aims at fighting against childhood hunger in 
America by partnering with communities to enroll eligible families with 
half of the program recipients being children. Reducing spending over 
the next few years by billions of dollars will affect the lives of 
Americans who depend on these programs to help put food on the table 
for their families.
  The current legislation under consideration for today would deny food 
benefits to least 4 million low-income Americans and make certain 
working adults with an average income of about $2,500 per year and no 
guardianship of children ineligible to receive food benefits. This may 
include our veterans, Native Americans and many individuals that live 
in areas where there is chronically high unemployment. H.R. 3102 is a 
bill that is unreasonable and beneath the conduct of a Congressional 
body to impose such a policy initiative that will not help the poorest 
and neediest Americans among us.
  Additionally, H.R. 3102 contains language that permanently bars 
formerly incarcerated individuals convicted of certain federal or state 
crimes and their families from receiving full SNAP benefits. As you may 
know, SNAP is about children and helping the poor and the needy. Why 
should anyone think that children should be denied adequate food and 
nutrition just because of the sins of the father or mother or 
caregiver, especially after they have paid their debt to society and 
reentered into normal community life? If this bill becomes law, it 
would restrict and deny the basic needs of children based on the 
parentage's criminal history of certain crimes and not on the essential 
eligibility requirement of income resulting from their financial 
status. As a result, H.R. 3102 would develop unintended consequences 
resulting in ancillary hardships to our neediest population. Given our 
nation's economic recovery, high unemployment rate, and the wide 
prevalence of food insecurity among children, all are directly 
problematic to the SNAP program. Every $1 in SNAP new benefits would 
generate up to $1.80 in economic activity. Every time a family uses 
SNAP benefits for healthy food on the table, it benefits the store and 
the employees where the purchase was made including the truck driver 
who delivered the food, the warehouses that stored it, the plant that 
processed it, and the farmer who produced the food. Each $1 billion 
increase in SNAP benefits is estimated to create and maintain 18,000 
full time jobs including 3,000 farm jobs. SNAP benefits have a powerful 
anti-poverty effect that the Census Bureau reports would lift 3.9 
million Americans--including 1.7 million children--out of poverty. SNAP

[[Page E1367]]

alleviates hunger and improves nutrition by increasing the food 
purchasing power of low-income households, enabling them to obtain a 
more nutritious diet that contributes to the prevention of obesity, 
diseases, and food insecurity.
  Cutting funding is a threat to SNAP's mission to alleviate the health 
problems many children face in America. Studies indicate that children 
who are provided with healthier food are less likely to develop health 
problems and more likely to excel better in school. Sixty-two percent 
of teachers in a survey said that they have children in their 
classrooms that come to school hungry regularly because they are not 
getting enough food to eat at home.

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