[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 10]
[House]
[Page 13829]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                           PROPOSED SNAP CUTS

  (Mr. TONKO asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. TONKO. Mr. Speaker, more than 30,000 families in New York's 
capital region rely on SNAP benefits to put dinner on the table every 
night. Nationally, about 87 percent of families on food stamps include 
a child, a senior citizen, or a disabled person. These members of the 
American family are hungry. They are not criminals.
  Yet House Republicans are trying to cut $40 billion from this 
critical program, 10 times the amount the Senate has proposed, without 
first looking at closing tax loopholes for major corporations or 
cutting subsidies to profit rich oil companies.
  These benefits are not luxuries, Mr. Speaker. These are basic, 
sustainable meals that will keep our unemployed and underemployed 
nourished until they find a job that lets them support themselves and 
their families on their own.
  If House Republicans truly want to reduce food stamp rolls and 
decrease how much our Nation spends on the SNAP program, then they need 
to join the Democrats and get serious about creating quality, well-
paying jobs instead of trying to balance the budget on the backs of our 
country's most vulnerable.

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