[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 158 (2012), Part 3]
[House]
[Page 4359]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                    PUERTO RICO SNAP RESTORATION ACT

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Puerto Rico (Mr. Pierluisi) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. PIERLUISI. Mr. Speaker, today I'm introducing the Puerto Rico 
SNAP Restoration Act.
  In 1971, Congress enacted legislation to partially include Puerto 
Rico in what is today called the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance 
Program, or SNAP, and what was then called the Food Stamp program.

                              {time}  1010

  Implementation of the Food Stamp program in Puerto Rico began in 
1974. In 1977, Congress amended Federal law to fully include Puerto 
Rico in the Food Stamp program so that rules governing eligibility and 
benefits applied no differently on the island than they did in the 50 
States. Four years later, however, Congress exercised its authority 
under the Territory Clause and removed Puerto Rico from the Food Stamp 
program, electing to provide the island government with an annual block 
grant instead. Since 1982, Puerto Rico has used this block grant to 
administer its Nutrition Assistance Program, which differs from SNAP in 
a number of material respects.
  The bill I'm introducing today, which I will seek to include in the 
2012 farm bill, would reinstate the SNAP program in Puerto Rico in 
place of the block grant.
  If this bill is enacted into law, Puerto Rico would join the 50 
States, the District of Columbia and two U.S. territories--Guam and the 
U.S. Virgin Islands--as jurisdictions fully participating in SNAP. My 
decision to file legislation converting Puerto Rico back to SNAP was 
made after carefully weighing the benefits and costs associated with 
this conversion. I relied primarily upon an in-depth study prepared by 
the USDA which evaluated the feasibility and impact of reinstating SNAP 
in Puerto Rico. On this subject, as with other important issues that 
I'm tackling, I have adhered to the principle that it is essential to 
build a strong evidentiary record prior to taking legislative action.
  The USDA report is comprehensive and raises a number of important 
policy questions, but its bottom-line message for Puerto Rico is 
crystal clear, namely, while there are some trade-offs associated with 
the conversion to SNAP, the benefits of conversion far outweigh the 
costs.
  Let me be more specific. Applying certain assumptions, the USDA study 
found that conversion would increase the number of households that 
receive nutrition assistance in Puerto Rico by over 15 percent. An 
additional 85,000 households would become eligible for assistance under 
SNAP. Moreover, restoring SNAP would raise the average monthly benefit 
by participating households by nearly 10 percent. And instituting equal 
treatment for Puerto Rico under SNAP would mean an additional $457 
million in Federal spending for the island each year, over 90 percent 
of which would take the form of additional benefits.
  These numbers reveal a fundamental truth: because Congress removed 
Puerto Rico from SNAP 20 years ago, hundreds of thousands of needy 
children, families, and seniors on the island have received no 
nutrition assistance at all or have received far fewer benefits than 
they would have received if they lived in the 50 States or even in the 
neighboring Virgin Islands.
  Accordingly, Puerto Rico's exclusion from this program serves as yet 
another example of how the American citizens I represent, especially my 
most vulnerable constituents, are treated unequally because of the 
island's territory status.
  Whether I'm fighting to convert Puerto Rico back to SNAP or to 
increase the island's annual block grant, I strongly believe this is a 
fight worth making. By ensuring that the neediest of my constituents 
can afford a healthy diet, we enable them to lead a dignified and 
independent life, which in the long run helps reduce health care costs 
and takes pressure off other safety net programs.

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