[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 5]
[House]
[Page 6937]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




               SUPPLEMENTAL NUTRITION ASSISTANCE PROGRAM

  (Ms. LEE of California asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute.)
  Ms. LEE of California. Mr. Speaker, as if voting to repeal the 
Affordable Care Act for the 37th time is not enough, Republicans are 
adding insult to injury by marking up a farm bill this week that 
doubles down on their indiscriminate sequester.
  The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly known as the 
Food Stamp program, is one of our Nation's first lines of defense 
against hunger and among the most effective forms of economic stimulus. 
Every $1 in SNAP benefits generates $1.70 in economic activity. Yet the 
Republican farm bill cuts nearly $21 billion from our Nation's 
antihunger program while millions of Americans continue to struggle 
from the impacts of the Great Recession. These cuts would end food 
assistance for nearly 2 million low-income people, mostly working 
families, children, and seniors, already hit by the sequester.
  Mr. Speaker, when I was a student and a single mother, the American 
people provided a lifeline in the form of food stamps while I struggled 
to make a better life for my children. That's true today for millions 
of families across the country, including 4.3 million Californians who 
need this critical lifeline.
  Cutting SNAP is morally wrong and an economic disaster. We should 
reject these cuts, stop sequestration, and create jobs.

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