[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 193 (Wednesday, December 4, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Page S6832]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



               Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program

  Mr. President, finally, on SNAP, today the Trump administration 
announced it had completed a new rule that would potentially throw 
hundreds of thousands of needy Americans off food assistance.
  Let me repeat. Hundreds of thousands of people who need food and have 
struggled to find employment would be kicked off Federal food 
assistance under a new Trump administration rule.
  Right now, there are about 37 million Americans who receive benefits 
under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. The vast majority 
of them work, but they don't earn enough to feed their families, and 
those who don't qualify for assistance for 3 months out of every 3 
years.
  Under the new rule, the Trump administration would trample on States' 
abilities to request waivers to these strict time limits in areas of 
great unemployment. Nearly every State in the Union has requested a 
waiver at one point or another.
  The Trump administration is driving the vulnerable into hunger just 
as the Christmas season approaches. It is heartless, it is cruel, and 
it exposes a deep and shameful cruelness and hypocrisy in this 
administration.
  One of the Trump administration's justifications for these cuts is 
that they will save the government money. Well, 2 years ago this very 
month, the Trump administration blew a more than trillion-dollar hole 
in our deficit with a gargantuan tax cut for corporations and the 
ultra-rich. The Trump administration argued it was money well spent. 
Now, the same administration says we have to pinch pennies when it 
comes to helping the hungry, particularly around Christmastime? This 
makes the Grinch look charitable. The same Trump administration that 
has steered millions of dollars to wealthy agribusinesses and foreign-
owned entities is now saying they need to save money by cutting off 
food aid to poor families who need it. This is jarring hypocrisy, and 
it shows clear as day where this administration's priorities clearly 
lie--with the rich and powerful, not the most vulnerable members of our 
society.
  I yield the floor.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Oklahoma.