[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 73 (Wednesday, May 13, 2015)]
[House]
[Page H2883]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




     BUDGET CUTS FOR THE SUPPLEMENTAL NUTRITION ASSISTANCE PROGRAM

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Massachusetts (Mr. McGovern) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, a few weeks ago, MomsRising, a national 
grassroots organization of moms, delivered a petition signed by more 
than 25,000 moms from all across the country urging this Congress not 
to cut SNAP in the fiscal year 2016 budget.
  Every Member of this House received the petition signed by moms in 
their districts. Today, that petition has grown to nearly 50,000 
signatures, and it keeps on growing. This is just the latest petition 
from MomsRising urging Congress to prioritize children in the budget 
and protect SNAP from cuts and other structural changes.
  I want to share one of the stories from a mom. Monique from Ohio 
writes:

       I was raised to always work and so was my husband. We have 
     tried to instill this in our daughter, even going so far as 
     to work opposite shifts and have family babysit if there was 
     an overlap. When my husband was laid off 2 years ago and then 
     couldn't find work, I tried my best to keep us floating on 
     just my income, walking to work because I didn't have the bus 
     fare, often having $20 or less after paying the bills to feed 
     my family for a week.
       I resisted getting on welfare, having been raised never to 
     take a handout. My pastor was the one who pointed out that I 
     had already paid for that right through my taxes over several 
     decades.
       Since signing up for SNAP benefits, I can feed my family 
     filling, nutritious meals again. Of course, my husband is 
     still looking for work, and that will pick up the slack again 
     if he gets work, and once he finds it, we will happily forego 
     the benefits again. Until then, all I can say is thank God 
     and the government for having a safety net in place.

  Unfortunately, Monique's story is not unique, but it shows that, 
without SNAP, her family would have been much worse off during these 
tough times.
  One in five children in the United States experiences hunger. Without 
the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, that number 
would sadly be much higher. Already, nearly half of all SNAP 
participants are children under the age of 18--nearly half, Mr. 
Speaker.
  This is despite the fact that SNAP households with children have high 
work rates. Families with children who are working continue to earn so 
little that they still qualify for SNAP, and they will struggle to put 
food on the table.
  Mr. Speaker, we know that hunger can lead to a myriad of negative 
outcomes for children. From health problems and compromised immune 
systems, to poor nutrition, to an inability to concentrate and succeed 
in school, childhood hunger means kids suffer.
  Despite these sobering statistics, the Republican budget resolutions 
passed by the House and Senate made draconian cuts to SNAP and other 
critical programs to help poor children and their families.
  The budget conference report only makes these cuts worse. It builds 
upon the $125 billion cut to SNAP in the House budget. To achieve a cut 
of that magnitude by block granting the program and capping its 
allotment means that States would be forced to cut benefits or cut 
eligible individuals and families off the program. There are simply no 
good choices. In short, it would make hunger worse in America, much 
worse.
  Mr. Speaker, SNAP is one of the only remaining basic protections for 
the very poor. For many of the poorest Americans, SNAP is the only form 
of income assistance they receive. SNAP provides food benefits to low-
income Americans at a very basic level. SNAP benefits are already too 
low. They average less than $1.40 per person, per meal. We should not 
be balancing the Federal budget on the backs of the poor and working 
families. We should not be making childhood hunger worse in America.
  I commend MomsRising for their leadership and for taking action to 
protect SNAP and ensure that all children have access to healthy, 
nutritious foods.
  Later today, MomsRising will start a Twitterstorm under the 
#missionpossible to highlight how building a strong economy for women, 
families, and the Nation is mission possible with policies to protect 
SNAP, promote healthy nutrition, guarantee paid sick days, require 
equal pay for equal work, and make child care more affordable. These 
are economic security priorities that boost our families and our 
economy.
  As the old adage goes, ``Mother knows best.'' We should listen to our 
moms, especially as we gather only a few days after Mother's Day. We 
should be strengthening families' economic security, and we should be 
working to end hunger now, not making it worse.

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