Motion to Instruct Conferees on H.R. 2642, Federal Agriculture Reform and Risk Management Act of 2013

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Ms. DelBENE. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of this motion and thank the ranking member for his work. Reauthorizing nutrition programs for 5 years is sound policy and the right thing to do.

The farm bill has always been built on a successful coalition of rural and urban communities and Members of Congress who come together in a bipartisan way to create responsible farm and food policy.

By authorizing farm policies for 5 years, but only extending nutrition programs for 3 years, we are leaving millions of working families, seniors, and children with great uncertainty when they need our help the most.

Let's be honest. Changing the authorization for nutrition programs reduces the likelihood of Congress passing a bipartisan farm bill that works for our farmers, food producers, and families. So, too, does repealing permanent farm law, as the current House bill does.

For the last 2 years, Congress has failed to act. Why are we making it even harder to pass a final farm bill?

SNAP helps nearly 47 million Americans, including over 22,000 in my district, afford nutritious food and not go hungry. It has proven to be efficient and effective with error rates at historic lows. It helps Americans at every district across the country by preventing them from falling into poverty and lifting them up through job training and education programs.

I am proud that I was able to include a SNAP employment and training pilot program modeled after a program from my home State of Washington in the nutrition bill that will go to conference.

Even at the height of the recession, 60 percent of those in Washington's programs found employment, and more than half were off assistance in 2 years. This is a commonsense policy to increase education and job training while decreasing the number of people who need SNAP.

This bill has been hijacked long enough. Let's get back to the bipartisan, cooperative process in which the House Agriculture Committee drafted the farm bill. Let's not make things more difficult than they need to be.

We were sent here to do our jobs, to govern and pass policies that will grow our economy, and it is no secret that Congress has been failing at fulfilling this basic responsibility.

So I urge my colleagues to support this motion to authorize both farm and nutrition programs for the full 5 years. Let's get to work and pass a 5-year farm bill.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source