[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 94 (Tuesday, June 3, 2025)]
[House]
[Pages H2415-H2417]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
151 DAYS WITHOUT A VOTE TO LOWER COSTS
(Under the Speaker's announced policy of January 3, 2025, Mr.
Olszewski of Maryland was recognized for 30 minutes.)
General Leave
Mr. OLSZEWSKI. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members
have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and submit
extraneous material into the Record.
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. McDowell). Is there objection to the
request of the gentleman from Maryland?
There was no objection.
Mr. OLSZEWSKI. Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleagues of the
Congressional Black Caucus for their remarks on an issue that is
pressing and timely for all of us. I really appreciate the ways in
which so many of you have lifted your voices on the scourge that is gun
violence in this country.
Mr. Speaker, I rise for this Special Order because here we are, now
151 days since the beginning of this 119th Congress, and American
families have seen zero relief. Nothing has been done to help them as
costs continue to rise, despite promises from the administration and
the GOP congressional majority to lower prices on day one. Instead,
this Republican majority is poised to make things worse through the
reconciliation process.
Just one awful and cruel example is pushing $300 billion of cuts to
food supports. In doing so, congressional Republicans will make
groceries even more expensive for the 42 million households already
struggling to put food on the table every day. Twenty thousand of those
families live in my district. Eighty percent of those households
include a child, a senior, a disabled person, or a veteran. Let that
sink in.
SNAP isn't a luxury. It is essential. It provides $6 a day in food
assistance to hungry Americans, just $6. It is a small amount, but it
is enough to lift up millions out of poverty and create a foundation of
health and well-being. Just $6 can create a pathway to opportunity.
Instead, Republicans want to take away food from hungry people, not
to balance the budget, because we know this bill actually increases the
deficit by nearly $3 trillion, and not to better serve our veterans,
because this bill actually reduces funding for our vets. Republicans in
Congress are doing this in order to fund tax breaks for the wealthiest
of individuals and big corporations.
Early in my career, I was a public school teacher. I know that a
hungry kid cannot learn. That is why, when I became Baltimore County
executive managing a $5 billion budget that I had to balance every
year, I prioritized food security and especially prioritized food
security for our children.
We leveraged our very modest SNAP dollars and braided it with
additional State and local funding to ensure that all kids in Baltimore
County, regardless of income level, could now receive a free breakfast
or lunch at every single public school--no stigma, no strident rules.
We just feed hungry kids.
We feed them in the summer, too, having expanded the summer SNAP
program to keep kids fed even when school isn't in session.
As a result, behaviors improved, and test scores went up, too. That
was no surprise because research has proven time and time again that
kids who receive SNAP benefits in school have higher graduation rates.
Access to healthy foods helps develop memory, social skills, and
emotional stability. All of these are critical to academic success.
A quality education is the key to opportunity. It empowers our SNAP
recipients to lift themselves out of the cycle of poverty.
Under these Republican cuts, Maryland and our counties would take on
50 to 75 percent of the administrative costs of SNAP.
{time} 2100
The types of expansions we made in Baltimore County and expansions
that have happened across this country will likely vanish overnight.
In fact, the Urban Institute says that as many as 18.3 million
children will lose access to free school meals under these cuts.
Food banks will be overwhelmed. Children will go hungry, and it will
have a domino effect: a domino effect on their education, a domino
effect on healthcare costs and healthcare outcomes, and a domino effect
on our economy.
A Department of Agriculture report called SNAP an economic
stabilizer. One billion in new SNAP benefits would lead to an increase
of 1.54 billion GDP. In other words, 54 percent above and beyond the
new benefits. That seems like a much better investment to me than
borrowing $4 trillion to finance tax cuts for the ultrawealthy.
I am so grateful to all of my colleagues who are joining me tonight
who are speaking about the importance of SNAP and feeding our young
people. We represent rural districts and urban districts, communities
of means and communities without. There isn't a single Member of
Congress who does not represent families who rely on SNAP's food
supports to make ends meet.
We all represent families that are getting squeezed by higher costs,
who are too scared to check their retirement accounts, who are putting
off having prescriptions filled, or who are falling behind on rent. It
is simple: These cuts will lead to suffering and we must stop them.
Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Virginia (Ms.
McClellan), who just co-anchored an incredible Special Order hour
herself.
Ms. McCLELLAN. Mr. Speaker, my father-in-law was a teacher and he
talked about how in the morning when he would come into work, he could
tell the kids that hadn't eaten at home and for them often the first
meal they would get was the free or reduced breakfast and lunch.
He would say: You can't learn if you are hungry. When you get the
sugar high of eating some of what they serve in schools as your first
meal and then you crash around 2 o'clock in the afternoon when it is
time for the history lesson, you are not going to learn much.
The SNAP cuts in the big, billionaire bonus bill are literally going
to take food off of the table for 42 million Americans, a third of them
children. For the first time ever, it is going to force States to pay
up to, I think it is, 25 percent of the cost.
In Virginia alone, that is going to be $450 million. That in and of
itself may not sound like a lot, but Virginia is also facing a hole
blown in its budget through cuts to Medicaid.
Virginia now is being forced to implement work requirements it
decided not to implement because when it looked at the other States
that did, the administrative costs of the work requirements cost more
than the cost to provide care.
These States are facing significant cuts to rental assistance and
affordable housing funding. Oh, by the way, these are the same people
who are now going to get their healthcare stripped away, who get their
food benefits stripped away, who are going to get their rental
assistance stripped away.
I did a little math--and I lost my sheet, so I am going on memory for
this math, which is dangerous for me--I found it. To qualify for SNAP,
a household's gross monthly income must be below 130 percent of the
Federal poverty line and their net monthly income below 100 percent.
What is that?
For a household of one, that is net $1,255. For a household of four,
that is net $2,600 a month. The average rent in Creighton Court in the
city of Richmond, which is public housing, for a two-bedroom unit is
$1,103. For Gilpin
[[Page H2416]]
Court, it is $1,396. The same group of people under this bill will be
forced to pay a copay for the first time up to $35. In the Energy and
Commerce Committee, my colleagues on the other side of the aisle said:
Well, they need skin in the game, so what is the big deal? I pay a
copay.
My colleagues on the other side of the aisle make a little bit more
than $1,255 of which they need to pay a little over a thousand in rent.
Now, they have to choose between putting food on the table or paying
that copay to go to the doctor to get preventive care and screenings.
What do you think they are going to do? They are not going to the
doctor; I will tell you that.
Mr. Speaker, I have talked a lot today, so I am going to be a little
briefer than I intended, but I am a preacher's kid, and as I listened
to the debate on the billionaire bonus bill, I couldn't help but think
of Matthew 25:31-46 where Jesus said that when He came into His glory
in Heaven and all the nations of the Earth would come and be divided
and He would turn to the righteous and say: Come, you who are blessed
by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since
the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something
to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a
stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I
was sick and you cared for me, I was in prison and you visited me.
And the righteous will say: Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed
you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a
stranger and invite you in, or you needing clothes and we clothed you?
When did we see you sick or in prison and take care of you or visit
you?
And the King will reply: Truly, I tell you, whatever you did for the
least of these, my brothers and sisters, you did for me.
And he will say to the others: Depart from me, you who are cursed,
into the eternal fire prepared for you. For I was hungry and you gave
me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I
was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you
did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after
me. They will say: When did we do this? I am paraphrasing a little bit.
Truly, I tell you, whatever you did not do for the least of these, you
did not do for me.
Mr. Speaker, I hear some of my friends on the other side of the
aisle, including Mr. Speaker who says if you want to know my political
philosophy read the Bible. I did. I did. I grew up reading it, and that
is the verse that has been sticking in my mind for the last 2 weeks,
particularly when we dealt with the Medicaid cuts and the SNAP cuts.
If you think the States are going to be able to make up the
difference, you are wrong. We are going to have a whole lot of people
who are hungry, who are sick, who are unhoused, who need help. Are we
going to do something for them or not?
I ran for office to help people and solve problems. That is not what
this bill does.
{time} 2110
Mr. OLSZEWSKI. Mr. Speaker, for I was hungry, and you gave me
something to eat; for I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink.
What will this House do? How will we be remembered when our service
here is done? I thank the gentlewoman for her comments.
Before I yield to my next colleague, I wanted to point out one other
interesting provision of this big, beautiful bill.
Currently, anyone caring for a dependent child is exempt from SNAP
work requirements. Under the proposed legislation passed out of this
House, that exemption would apply to those responsible only for those
caring for children 6 years and younger. That means that parents or a
single parent with children aged 7 or older who are currently exempt
would have to meet the work requirement in order to receive SNAP
benefits.
Is that how we want to treat our children, Mr. Speaker?
As we ponder that, I yield to the distinguished gentlewoman from New
Jersey (Mrs. Watson Coleman).
Mrs. WATSON COLEMAN. Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague from Maryland
for anchoring this important Special Order hour.
Mr. Speaker, the bill that the House Republicans sent to the Senate
would create the largest transfer of wealth from the working class to
the well-off in our Nation's history. Folks who were already doing
everything they can to make ends meet, working several jobs to put food
on the table, and keep their kids healthy. The honest, hopeful,
hardworking Americans who just want a fair shot at a better future,
these are the people who stand to lose the most under the Republican
bill.
These are the folks who rely on basic needs programs like SNAP and
Medicaid. These folks aren't lazy. They don't want something for
nothing. They just want to feed their families and to take care of
their kids.
However, the Republican plan is to drown them in red tape, to kick
them off of their health insurance, and force them to choose between
feeding their families or paying their rent. They are waging a war of
attrition on the working people and those who are most in need.
As if this outcome wasn't bad enough, what may be worse is the reason
that they are doing all of this: To pay for huge tax breaks for the
wealthiest Americans.
In an attempt to cover the cost of tax write-offs for private jets
and yachts and multiple houses, Republicans are cutting back on food
assistance for hungry children. I don't know how else you would
describe this, but for me I think it is cruel, ugly, and evil.
Mr. OLSZEWSKI. Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for her remarks
tonight. At this point, it is my privilege to yield to the
distinguished gentlewoman from Oregon (Ms. Dexter).
Ms. DEXTER. Mr. Speaker, I echo my colleague's thanks to our
colleague from Maryland for anchoring this incredibly important hour.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to defend food assistance, not just in my
district, but for millions of Americans across this country.
Republicans passed a bill out of this Chamber enacting the largest
ever cut to food assistance in our Nation's history. This ploy will put
extreme pressure on our food banks, leave millions of Americans hungry,
and force families to make impossible choices.
Let me be clear: Hunger is not inevitable. Letting people be hungry
is a policy choice. Republicans are choosing to rip the food out of
hungry people, hungry families' mouths. For what? To give tax breaks to
billionaires.
I want to share a story from Rita, a woman in Portland who wrote to
my office claiming if Federal food assistance was cut, she will have to
choose between buying groceries and paying rent, buying groceries or
paying the electric bill.
This is not an unfamiliar story for me as a physician, who heard my
patients struggling with similar choices. The cruelty of this bill is
not just unconscionable, it is heartless. We are talking about real
people battling hunger. In the wealthiest country in the world,
Americans shouldn't have to struggle so much just to get by. People
deserve to thrive.
Republicans are choosing, again, to give tax breaks for the
wealthiest on the backs of working Americans.
One in six community members in my district rely on SNAP. Seniors,
children, veterans, and people with disabilities will go hungry. Food
stamps aren't a handout. SNAP helps veterans who served our country and
neighbors with disabilities. It feeds seniors on fixed incomes and
families with young children. Most of these people have faced
unimaginable odds and have nowhere else to turn.
We cannot turn our backs on those who need us most. This is a moment
for moral clarity. Not one person in this country should go hungry, not
one person should be left behind, and certainly not just so
billionaires can line their pockets even further.
We have time to stop it, but only if we speak up. Stay loud.
Mr. OLSZEWSKI. Mr. Speaker, I thank the Representative and my friend
from Oregon for her remarks tonight, Mr. Speaker, reminding us that, in
fact, hunger is a choice.
We are choosing to prioritize the ultrawealthy of this country over
our
[[Page H2417]]
seniors and our veterans, over those who have sacrificed so much for
this country, and over the future of this country, over our children.
We are not willing to spend $6 a day to lift up the most vulnerable
among us, to spend $6 a day to feed people who are hungry and provide
real opportunities for fellow Americans.
I think it is time that all of us in this Chamber take a moment to
reflect about what we are doing here and what our true priorities are.
Mr. Speaker, I thank you for the opportunity to elevate this
important issue. I thank my colleagues who have added their voice to
this issue. I hope that as the Senate considers this reconciliation
package, particularly around the issue of food security and hunger and
feeding our fellow Americans, that we take a hard look in the mirror
and think about what we are doing here.
Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
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