End Hunger Now

Floor Speech

Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I rise once again to address the House on the need to end hunger now. This is the 14th time that I've done so this year.

Next week, the Members of this House will return home to their districts for the 4th of July district work period. There will be parades and fireworks and picnics for all of us, but for too many of our neighbors there will be no such festivities. They will be too busy working two or three jobs just to make ends meet.

They will be worrying about their children, who, during these summer months, are too often forced to go without enough nutritious food to eat because school is out of session, because in our country, Mr. Speaker, in the richest, most powerful Nation in the history of the world, the reality is that 50 million of our fellow Americans struggle with hunger.

I am also sure that, during the 4th of July activities, many Members will be getting quite an earful from the farmers in their districts. Those farmers are now facing confusion and uncertainty as they prepare for yet another season without a long-term reauthorization of the farm bill. They will wonder why this House of Representatives can't seem to get its act together.

I hope that my colleagues will tell them the truth, which is that the reason the farm bill failed in the House last week is that it would have thrown 2 million people off the SNAP program. It would have caused over 200,000 children to lose access to the free school breakfast and lunch program. It would have made hunger worse in America. It would have forced struggling Americans to jump through all sorts of hoops, like drug testing, while not requiring the same of wealthy farmers who receive Federal subsidies. It would have not only allowed but actually encouraged States to find ways to kick people off the SNAP program. In short, it would have continued the Republican majority's assault on hardworking, struggling poor people; and for many of us on our side of the aisle, that price was simply too high.

As columnist E.J. Dionne wrote after the defeat of the bill:

This is, above all, a story about morality. There is something profoundly wrong when a legislative majority is so eager to risk leaving so many Americans hungry. That's what the bill would have done and why defeating it was a moral imperative.

Mr. Speaker, I want a farm bill. Our farmers deserve a farm bill. I am honored to represent hundreds of small farmers, and I am honored to serve on the Agriculture Committee. I know that Chairman Lucas and Ranking Member Peterson worked incredibly hard to thread a very small needle. If the Republican leadership really wants a farm bill, it should do away with these draconian SNAP cuts and bring a bill to the floor that acknowledges the struggles faced by millions of our neighbors.

My fear, however, is they will do just the opposite, that they will go even further, make even deeper cuts to food and nutrition programs, make even more Americans hungry in a vain attempt to convince some of their more right-wing members to support this bill. Indeed, we see that dynamic at work with the agriculture appropriations bill before us this week, a bill that makes drastic cuts to the Women, Infants and Children program.

I would like to once again urge the White House to take an active leadership role on this. Last week, the administration issued a veto threat against the farm bill because of the devastating SNAP cuts that it contained, and I welcomed that threat. It was a positive sign. It was a positive sign that the White House understands that throwing 2 million people off of SNAP would be devastating not just to those individuals, but to our economy, as well.

But the administration, quite frankly, needs to do more. They need to convene a White House conference on food and nutrition so that we can get everyone in a room, including our farmers, to address the issue of hunger in America. Let's solve this problem. This is a solvable problem, but it needs attention and we need to have a plan.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to reflect over the next week about where we should go from here. Do we want to live up to the bipartisan tradition of giants like Bob Dole and George McGovern, who came together and helped create this anti-hunger safety net that we have in this country? Their leadership almost ended hunger in this country in the 1970s. Unfortunately, we have strayed so far away from what they've done that we now find ourselves with 50 million hungry people.

Do we want to unite to provide a circle of protection around our most vulnerable neighbors? I hope so, Mr. Speaker. I hope that this House of Representatives understands that one of our obligations is to make sure that the needy and the poor and the most vulnerable are not forgotten, that we don't sit back and allow them to fall through the cracks.

We can do this. We can end hunger now. All we need is the political will.

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