[Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 116 (Thursday, July 16, 2026)]
[Senate]
[Page S4124]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                              Food Stamps

  Mr. President, last year, we passed the One Big Beautiful Bill. One 
of the provisions of the One Big Beautiful Bill was that, in America, 
if you are hungry, we are going to feed you. We are going to give you 
food stamps. We don't want you to be hungry. But in return for those 
food stamps, if you are able-bodied, if you are not disabled and you 
don't have kids at home, you have to go get a job. You have to work 20 
hours a week or go to school for 20 hours a week or do community 
service for 20 hours a week--a fair trade.
  We said: We don't want to take food stamps away from people who need 
them; we want fewer people to need food stamps.
  And it is working. The full provision of the law is not even 
implemented, but so far, we have had 4 million people who were on food 
stamps--in those States that have implemented the work requirement, we 
have 4 million people who have either decided they don't need food 
stamps because they didn't want to work or they have gone to work for a 
living and they no longer need food stamps.
  Now, those are the only two possibilities. When you say ``You have to 
work to get food stamps,'' and 4 million people say ``We are off the 
food stamp rolls,'' one of two things has happened: You either really 
didn't need the food stamps or you went to work and you didn't need the 
food stamps.
  It is going to have an even more meaningful impact as more and more 
States implement the work requirement. It was long overdue. We ought to 
extend it to every social program in America.
  I am not talking about and we weren't talking about taking food away 
from a mother with a sick child in her arms. This rule just applies to 
able-bodied people who aren't disabled, who aren't elderly, and who 
don't have kids at home. And all we require is that they work 20 hours 
a week or go to school for 20 hours a week and get job training or do 
community service. It is working.
  Some of my colleagues in this Chamber are going to try to roll it 
back. We need to fight them tooth and nail.
  I made it. I am done. Peace out.