[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 7]
[House]
[Page 9816]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                        DON'T TAKE FOOD FROM ME

  (Ms. JACKSON LEE asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute.)
  Ms. JACKSON LEE. Most of America would ask the question: What 
happened here today?
  I can probably say that what happened here today is a little hand of 
a hungry child that was raised up, and the child said: What about me?
  You can talk about farms--little ones and big ones. I am a big 
supporter of our agricultural production in this Nation--it is from the 
soil--but I am very glad that we stood up for the children who are 
faced and confronted with $20 billion in cuts from something that 
stamps out hunger. Households with children receive about 75 percent of 
all food stamp benefits.
  Mr. Speaker, we didn't want to just stop there.
  We didn't want to just take food from 200,000 hungry children. We 
wanted to make sure that, if you are a disabled parent with a young 
child--and if you don't have child care and if you can't find a job--
your SNAP money would not be given to you by the State, and the State 
would be able to keep it. We didn't just want to take food out of a 
hungry child's mouth. We wanted to slap him down. We wanted to make 
sure that the State would be grinning by saying, Ha, ha, ha, not only 
do you not get food, but--in the same breath--we get to keep the money.
  We are better than this as America. We can do better. This bill was 
defeated because the hand of a hungry child was able to be heard on the 
floor of this House. I am glad that I stood with the hungry child and 
stamped out hunger in that child's heart, stomach and mind. Today, a 
child's voice, as sweet and quiet as it is, Mr. Speaker, was loud and 
clear: don't take food from me.

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