Relating to Consideration of House Amendment to Senate Amendment Federal Agriculture Reform and Risk Management Act of 2013
Floor Speech
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Ms. LEE of California. Let me thank the gentleman for yielding and for his determination to eliminate hunger, not only in our own country, but throughout the world.
Mr. Speaker, there are 46 million Americans living in poverty, 16 million of whom are children. Instead of focusing on serious ways to lift people out of poverty and into the middle class, Republicans have insisted on placing a larger burden on the backs of the poor and the most vulnerable, effectively kicking them while they are down. That is what the Republicans' farm bill nutrition title did when it was passed on September 19. It would have decimated the anti-poverty SNAP program and would have left hundreds of millions of veterans, children, seniors, and millions of working poor hungry and with nowhere to turn for a meal. SNAP has one of the lowest fraud rates amongst government programs.
House Republicans were unsuccessful in their attempts to pass a farm bill this summer, so the Republican leadership doubled down on this immoral stance, surrendered the governing of the House down to the extreme Tea Party fringe of their party, and passed $40 billion in cuts, which means cutting 24 meals a month for a family of four. This would be in addition, I might add, to SNAP cuts already scheduled to go into effect on November 1. This means about $29 less per month for food for a family of three. These cuts to the SNAP program are really heartless. Let me tell you that I know from personal experience that the majority of people on food stamps wants a job that pays a living wage, and SNAP provides this bridge over troubled waters during very difficult times.
In my own congressional district, for example, over 22,000 households would have been impacted in more than 1.6 million homes throughout California. In 2011, SNAP lifted 4.7 million Americans out of poverty, including 2.1 million children. In addition to feeding the Nation's hungry, SNAP is vital to our economy. For every $1 increase in SNAP benefits, we have received back in economic activity $1.70.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The time of the gentlewoman has expired.
Mr. McGOVERN. I yield the gen tle lady an additional 30 seconds.
Ms. LEE of California. Without SNAP, millions of families would fall into poverty while millions more Americans would suffer extreme hunger and our economy would create even fewer jobs.
Let me remind you that millions of people on food stamps are working. Their wages are stagnant and low. Many make less than $8 an hour; yet they are working every day to feed their families. Paying billions in farm subsidies and cutting SNAP benefits for the most vulnerable is not a value that a majority of Americans embrace. Cutting SNAP benefits is not the American way.
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