Agriculture and Nutrition Act of 2018
Floor Speech
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Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Chair, I rise in opposition to the amendment.
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Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Chair, I just want to say for the record that both Feeding America and Feeding Texas oppose this farm bill because they believe it will increase hunger in America, and I include the letter from Feeding Texas in the Record. Feeding Texas,
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Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Chair, I thought that this bill couldn't get any worse, but I was wrong. This amendment is a sure sign that this underlying farm bill is a complete mess. This manager's amendment is longer than most bills that we consider in this House.
First, it puts a Band-Aid on the beating the majority took during the markup when they finally realized that disabled people would be hurt by their zeal to sever LIHEAP from SNAP. But to do that, to help disabled people, cost them money, so they had to find savings somewhere. And they landed on taking away more flexibility from States for waivers, the result of which is that 600,000 people--600,000 more able-bodied adults without dependents--will lose SNAP.
Here is the best part of it: The 600,000 will be kicked off right away, at least a year before the mandatory work scheme--which is underfunded and will be a mass of bureaucracy--is in effect. So in spite of the rhetoric to provide on-ramps, off-ramps, trampolines, or whatever to help people get good jobs, they do not deliver--not for SNAP, and not for farmers.
As I have said over and over and over again, a farm bill should be a bipartisan product. It should be reflective of bipartisan concerns. It should help farmers, and it should help those struggling in need to put food on the table. This bill doesn't do enough to help farmers, and it certainly doesn't do anything to help people struggling with hunger. In fact, this bill makes hunger worse in America, and that is shameful.
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Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Chair, let me close by saying this manager's amendment highlights how deeply flawed this bill is. I regret very much that a flawed bill is being brought to the House floor because of a flawed process.
I am the ranking Democrat in the Nutrition Subcommittee. I didn't see the nutrition title until it was made public to the press. We had 23 hearings in the Agriculture Committee. This nutrition title does not reflect those hearings. We should have had a hearing on this nutrition title to understand the impacts that it will have on some of the most vulnerable people in this country.
We live in the richest country in the history of the world. We have millions of people who are food insecure or hungry. We have an obligation here in this House of Representatives to make sure that we don't let them fall through the cracks. And yet, we have this bill that will make hunger worse in America. This manager's amendment does nothing to fix it. In fact, in some cases it makes it worse.
I urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to reject it but, more importantly, reject this bill. Send it back to committee. Let's do it right. Let's have a bipartisan bill, one that we can all be proud of.
Mr. Chair, I yield back the balance of my time.
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