OFFICIALS LEGISLATION INTEREST GROUPS PUBLIC STATEMENTS COMMITTEES VETOES

Hunger and the Ryan Budget

Floor Speech

Date: April 17, 2012
Location: Washington, DC
Issues: Unemployed and Low-Income Entitlements and the Safety Net

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Ms. SCHAKOWSKY. I thank you so much for the opportunity to participate in this debate where so many of our colleagues have come down to the floor to talk about it.

This is the richest country in the world, and yet one out of five of our children is considered food insecure, goes hungry. That is such a moral outrage.

You know, the average food stamp benefit is $1.50 a meal. That's what you get when you're lucky enough to be part of the SNAP program. And as this chart shows, this map shows, it's everywhere. I actually live in a district that was considered one of the least hard-hit by food insecurity, but that's all relative.

In the Ninth Congressional District in Illinois, more than 11 percent of the households are experiencing

food hardship, the inability to put enough food on the table. And even the least of the hard-hit districts has 7 percent of its families unable to put enough food on the table in the richest country in the world. It's intolerable.

You know, the headline today in Politico, ``Republicans Ax Aid to the Poor'' makes me so sad. Who are we as a country? What are we as a country where a candidate for President, a Republican candidate for President, denigrates Barack Obama by calling him the food stamp president. I'm proud that this President wants to defend, protect, and save a program that feeds so many people.

And here's what the Catholic bishops say:

SNAP, also known as food stamps, helps feed millions of households. At this time of economic turmoil and growing poverty, the committee should oppose cuts in this effective and efficient anti-hunger program that helps people live in dignity.

I just want to say we are asking for dignity for Americans that are struggling. The average food stamp recipient is only on it for 9 months. One of the former recipients called it a trampoline that helps you get past it.

I'm asking for dignity for Americans and saving the nutrition programs, especially the SNAP program, the food stamp program.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT


Source
arrow_upward