[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 90 (Wednesday, May 24, 2017)]
[House]
[Pages H4507-H4508]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           TRUMP BUDGET CUTS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Massachusetts (Mr. McGovern) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, yesterday President Trump released the 
most reckless and heartless budget I have ever seen in my life. It 
slashes virtually every worthwhile program: programs that help the 
middle class, seniors, and veterans. But what I find particularly 
offensive and troubling is that his budget is a radical assault on 
people living in poverty or right on the edge. It guts Medicaid, 
housing assistance, and Social Security disability insurance benefits.
  The Trump budget also decimates the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance 
Program, known as SNAP, our Nation's first line of defense against 
hunger. It cuts the program by $193 billion over 10 years. That is a 25 
percent reduction. President Trump makes these ruthless cuts by cutting 
eligibility and reducing benefits. He also adds a new requirement that 
States pay 25 percent of the cost of the benefits.
  It may be a nice sound bite to suggest that States should share the 
cost of providing SNAP benefits to their residents, but the reality is 
that State budgets are already stretched incredibly thin, and 
communities are already suffering from a decrease in Federal investment 
in States. The Trump budget compounds this problem by eliminating 
dozens of programs that families in States across the country rely on. 
This will only exacerbate the stress on State budgets to deliver basic 
services to their residents.
  If that isn't bad enough, President Trump would allow States to cut 
benefit levels to manage the costs they would incur under this cruel 
budget. This means that families living in certain States would see 
their already too-modest benefits drop through no fault of their own.
  At the same time, President Trump is proposing new fees on retail 
stores applying to accept SNAP benefits. We know access to food is a 
huge concern, especially in rural areas and in cities, and such a 
wrongheaded approach will further limit the ability of families on SNAP 
to shop for nutritious food.
  In addition, President Trump's budget makes it even more difficult 
for able-bodied adults without dependents to receive modest food 
benefits. Current law allows States to waive the time limits imposed on 
these vulnerable adults, which include veterans, by the way, but 
President Trump wants to severely limit the ability of States to 
request these waivers. Estimates suggest that in any given month, this 
proposal would restrict access to SNAP for up to 1 million Americans 
struggling to find work. Mr. Speaker, kicking people off of SNAP 
doesn't help them find a job. It only makes them hungrier, weaker, and 
even less likely to qualify for work. It is simply a rotten thing to 
do.
  Now, quite frankly, I was a little surprised by the magnitude of 
these cuts given the fact that President Trump's Secretary of 
Agriculture, Sonny Perdue, testified before the House Committee on 
Agriculture last week in strong defense of SNAP. He said: `` . . . we 
have no proposed changes. You don't try to fix things that aren't 
broken.''
  How are we to trust this administration's promises on anything when 
they tell us one thing on Wednesday and release a budget that does the 
exact opposite not even a week later?
  During the past 2 years, the House Committee on Agriculture has held 
21 hearings on SNAP. As the ranking member of the Subcommittee on 
Nutrition, I have participated in each one of them. What we have 
learned from our witnesses, both Democrats and Republicans, is that 
SNAP works. It is one of the most effective and efficient programs run 
by the Federal Government. It expands in times of economic hardship and 
contracts as our economy recovers.
  With a modest food assistance benefit of about $1.40 per person per 
meal, SNAP alleviates hunger and reduces poverty. It supplements the 
food budgets of families and helps them make ends meet. Innovations in 
the program have helped to spur the consumption of healthier food. I 
would like to remind my colleagues that two-thirds of the people on 
SNAP are children, seniors, or disabled. The majority of people on the 
program who are able to work do work.

[[Page H4508]]

  If you want to talk about reforming the program and how do we look to 
the future, we need to focus on how to make the program even better. We 
need to make sure that anyone who needs this benefit has access to it. 
We need to support and expand innovative programs that help increase 
the purchasing power of SNAP. We need to increase SNAP benefits so that 
families that are helped by the program can actually access more 
nutritious food that lasts through the month.
  Mr. Speaker, Donald Trump is used to dining with billionaires at Mar-
a-Lago and Trump Tower, so I am not at all shocked by his lack of 
knowledge about our antihunger safety net or by his lack of interest in 
helping the most vulnerable in our society. It is clear from his budget 
that he does not have a clue.
  I urge my colleagues to join me in rejecting this reckless and 
heartless proposal that will devastate so many families that we 
represent. We must, instead, support efforts to strengthen SNAP and end 
hunger now. We are supposed to end hunger now, not make it worse.

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