BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Ms. MOORE. Mr. Speaker, I join with my colleagues in supporting House passage today of the long overdue FY 2019 Department of Agriculture, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies funding bill which will help bring an end to the reckless shutdown for the agencies, programs, and federal employees that are covered by this measure.
We need to pass this bill today, and the Senate needs to follow suit, to help stave off some of the worst consequences that face some of the most vulnerable as a result of the President's reckless decision.
If the partial government shutdown, which the President is so proud to have caused, continues there may not be sufficient appropriations for food assistance under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) to provide full benefits or any benefits. USDA recently announced it was making moves to try and delay the inevitable for these programs. But that is just a stall--one of the many desperate actions by an Administration apparently just now starting to realize the damage it is inflicting across America.
To make his case, the President held a national press conference earlier this week to sell his made up ``crisis'' along the Southern border. A ``crisis'' that experts say is not happening. Border apprehensions are at lows not seen in nearly two decades. The ``crisis,'' if any exists, is his policy of denying asylum seekers their legal right to make their claims.
President Trump inflicted this chaotic shutdown on the American people to try and bully the nation into building his vanity wall.
Well, let me tell you about the real crisis that he is creating in millions of households across the country from the dedicated federal employees who have been sent home without pay or those working without pay who are wondering how they will pay rent or their mortgage and their bills now that the federal government has broken faith with them.
Or the real crisis this Administration is creating for the millions of families and individuals who depend on SNAP and WIC to help keep food on the table. In my home state, that includes hundreds of thousands of women, children, seniors, low-income military veterans, and the disabled who are already struggling. These harms aren't hypothetical, folks. Hunger is real in our country and millions of Americans are struggling to put food on the table. And the Trump Shutdown is only making it harder to do.
One estimate is that if USDA does not have enough funding on hand to pay full benefits and provide partial funding spread evenly across all SNAP households, it would result in an average benefit cut per household of at least $90 or close to 40 percent.
Similarly, benefits available through the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) are at risk. WIC is such an important program that helps provide targeted nutrition and other services to at-risk women. This program has helped improve breastfeeding rates among its target population and saves lives and money for the taxpayer. Over 7 million mothers, pregnant women, and children rely on WIC.
WIC clinics are currently open and operating normally but that funding will run out if the shutdown continues. If the shutdown continues as long as the President wants it to, WIC agencies may be forced to start waiting lists for benefits, freeze new applications, furlough staff, or close clinics in the face of declining or no funding.
And even with doors open, the uncertainty created by the shutdown may be discouraging eligible individuals from reaching out to WIC for support, undermining the program's purpose.
And we will all pay in the end if taxpayers have to bear health care expenses and other costs for individuals that could have been avoided.
The bill before us, that the Senate Appropriations Committee unanimously approved last year, will ensure that these critical benefits continue to be paid and that families can continue to put food on the table.
I urge my colleagues to support this bill.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT