[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 88 (Monday, June 9, 2014)]
[House]
[Pages H5075-H5076]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                             END HUNGER NOW

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Massachusetts (Mr. McGovern) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, over and over again, House Republicans 
complain about Federal spending, especially when it comes to our 
Nation's premier antihunger safety net program, a program known as 
SNAP. They say the program is too big, that it is bloated and it is 
full of fraud, waste, and abuse. These claims are patently false and 
have been dispelled over and over again. But there is something else 
missing from the House Republicans' attacks on SNAP--a plan to 
responsibly shrink the program.
  Now, of course, House Republicans have many irresponsible plans to 
reduce SNAP spending. They want to make it harder and more costly for 
States to administer the program. They want to prevent people who have 
served their time in prison from being able to receive SNAP benefits. 
And they want to prevent those struggling with drug addiction from 
being able to receive SNAP benefits. In other words, they want to deny 
food to hungry people.
  Not one of these ideas is thoughtful or responsible. But, Mr. 
Speaker, there is a way to reduce SNAP spending in a responsible way 
that doesn't take food away from hungry people. It is simple, it is 
noncontroversial, and it makes a lot of sense. Mr. Speaker, the best 
way

[[Page H5076]]

to do this is to raise the minimum wage. We know that hunger is a 
subset of poverty. If people earned enough money, they wouldn't need 
help making ends meet. They wouldn't need Medicaid, SNAP, or housing 
assistance. The Federal minimum wage is currently $7.25 and hasn't been 
raised in 5 years. The real value of today's minimum wage is less than 
two-thirds of what it was in 1968. The result of such a low minimum 
wage is that many full-time workers live in poverty and have to rely on 
public assistance programs in order to make ends meet.
  Now, I am a cosponsor of the bill to raise the Federal minimum wage 
to $10.10 an hour. Doing so wouldn't just result in increased wages for 
American workers, although that is the most important result. Raising 
the minimum wage to $10.10 would cut SNAP spending by $4.6 billion a 
year--$4.6 billion a year.
  That is an amazing figure, Mr. Speaker, and that reduction in 
spending comes simply because people would earn enough money to buy 
their own food. Imagine that. By increasing people's wages, we reduce 
the number of people relying on Federal assistance.
  A recent study commissioned by the Center for American Progress 
documents this. It shows that SNAP benefits decline 30 cents for every 
$1 increase in family earnings. This report goes on to show that a 10 
percent increase in the minimum wage reduces SNAP enrollment by between 
2.4 percent and 3.2 percent and reduces SNAP spending by 1.9 percent. 
That means that 3.5 million Americans would be cut from SNAP not 
because of some arbitrary or hurtful policy but because they earn 
enough so they don't need SNAP any longer.
  Mr. Speaker, this is just good, plain common sense. We should be 
doing more to bridge the income inequality gap. We should be doing 
everything we can to make sure that people are earning as much as they 
can so that they do not need to rely on Federal programs like SNAP or 
Medicaid.
  And, quite frankly, we shouldn't be talking about a minimum wage, Mr. 
Speaker. We should be talking about a living wage. Just look at my 
hometown of Worcester, Massachusetts. The minimum wage is $8 an hour. 
But a living wage for two childless adults is just under $15 an hour, 
and it rises to $18.30 for two adults with one child. Now, while I 
support an increase in minimum wage to $10.10 an hour, that is not 
going to cut it for a family of three.
  That is why I am encouraged by what the city of Seattle has done. 
They responsibly raised their minimum wage to $15 an hour, an increase 
phased in over the next 6 years. That is essentially the average 
national living wage. While I believe our effort to raise the Federal 
minimum wage to $10.10 is a good one and is the right policy, I believe 
we need to think bigger and bolder. Seattle passed its increase with 
the blessing and approval from both labor and business groups. That is 
an amazing coalition.
  Mr. Speaker, raising the minimum wage is the right thing to do. It is 
the moral thing to do. And it will actually have real impacts on the 
lives of poor families living in this country. It will cut SNAP 
spending by $4.6 billion per year, and 3.5 million people will be able 
to stop relying on SNAP simply because they are earning more in every 
paycheck they take home. It will help end hunger now. This is a good, 
commonsense way to reduce SNAP spending and make people's lives better.
  We should increase the minimum wage today. I call on the Republican 
leadership to schedule a vote. Increasing the minimum wage is the right 
thing to do. If we want to end hunger now, we need to make sure that 
people who work ought not to have to live in poverty.

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