End Hunger Now

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I come to the floor today to again talk about the need to end hunger now.

Last week, this House passed a bill that cut $39 billion from the Nation's preeminent anti-hunger safety net program, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP. Formerly known as food stamps, SNAP is a program that provides food to low-income individuals and their families. It also has among the lowest error rates of any Federal program. Additionally, the bill contained new work requirements for people receiving SNAP benefits.

Mr. Speaker, the notion of new and stricter work requirements sounds terrific. I'm sure it polls very well. But the reality is that the majority of people receiving SNAP who can work, actually do work. In fact, working people are the fastest-growing priority of the SNAP program.

And let me note that SNAP already has work requirements for able-bodied adults without dependents. Under current law, they are eligible for SNAP benefits for only 3 out of every 36 months unless they work 20 hours a week or are in a State-run unemployment or training program. The law specifically states they must take a job if it is offered to them, and cannot quit.

States can apply for waivers for areas of high unemployment. During this very difficult economic time, 48 States and jurisdictions currently do so. In other words, Republican and Democratic Governors alike understand that forcing people to find a job before they can get their food benefits doesn't make any sense if there are no jobs to find.

The Republican bill would eliminate those State waivers and impose harsh financial penalties on States that refuse to implement the new work requirements. So much for States' rights.

But more broadly, Mr. Speaker, it's important to note that what we do in Congress is not done in a vacuum. Every action we take is linked together. Every piece of Federal policy that we pass has a reaction on other Federal policies.

For the past 3 years, we have seen this Tea Party-controlled House of Representatives attempt to weaken our educational system, prevent people from obtaining health care, cut childcare programs, cut transportation funding and affordable housing, cut job training programs, try to take health care away from people who have insurance, and prevent bills that create jobs from coming to the floor. In other words, at the same time my Republican friends are telling poor people that they need to work in order to get food benefits, they are doing everything possible to make it harder for people to find a job that pays a living wage.

Now, think about a young single mother who is trying to make a better life. Republicans want to cut Pell Grants, cut funding to community colleges, and cut job training programs, which means it's harder for her to get the skills she needs. This sequester has meant cuts to Head Start programs, which makes it harder to find affordable childcare so that she can go to work. Cuts in transportation funding make it more difficult and expensive for her to get to a job if she can find one.

They reject health insurance for everyone, which gives her a perverse incentive to stay on Medicaid. They oppose raising the minimum wage, which means that even if she can find a job, it likely won't pay enough to provide for her family.

Mr. Speaker, slashing government just for its own sake means cutting education, stifling innovation and job creation, and preventing people from making ends meet.

I have come to this floor week after week to talk about how we can end hunger now. Week after week, I have called for a White House conference on food and nutrition, urging the President to bring policy and political experts to the White House to come up with a comprehensive plan to End Hunger Now--a plan that could dramatically reduce the number of people who rely on SNAP and reduce the amount of money we spend on the program. This is an issue that can and must be solved.

Last week, this House took a huge step backwards, a step that will make more people hungry in America. It was an awful thing to do. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that 3.8 million people will lose their benefits; 170,000 veterans will lose their food benefits.

Ending hunger used to be a bipartisan issue. Surely, it can be again.

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