[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 162 (2016), Part 2]
[House]
[Page 1890]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




               SUPPLEMENTAL NUTRITION ASSISTANCE PROGRAM

  (Mr. McGOVERN asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to oppose a Republican bill 
that was introduced yesterday that would let States use drug testing to 
determine low-income Americans' eligibility to receive food assistance 
through SNAP, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
  This is nothing more than an attempt to demonize poor people and has 
no basis in reality.
  Similar laws in Florida and Georgia were struck down as 
unconstitutional and only waste thousands of taxpayer dollars to 
identify very few drug users. In fact, those receiving public 
assistance actually test positive at a lower rate than the general 
population.
  Why aren't my Republican colleagues calling for drug testing for 
wealthy CEOs and oil company executives who receive taxpayer subsidies? 
Why is it that they always pick on poor people? It is a lousy thing to 
do.
  SNAP is intended to help people put food on the table when they are 
struggling to find work, when their current job is not paying enough, 
or simply when they have fallen on hard times.
  We should be talking about improving the SNAP benefit so that 
families can afford more nutritious food, not creating more insulting 
hoops for vulnerable families to have to jump through.

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