Farm Bill

Floor Speech

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Mr. TILLIS. Mr. President, I come to talk about the farm bill and an amendment I filed along with Senators Cornyn and Heller, but I first want to thank Chairman Roberts for doing the remarkable job he does bringing people together on the Agriculture Committee. For the first 2 years I was in the Senate, beginning in 2015, I was on Agriculture, and I really enjoyed watching the way he worked trying to bridge the gaps between different interests.

In the Agriculture Committee, it is less along partisan lines and more along regional lines. So the fact that we have a farm bill before us, which I will support and I believe is good for farmers, is a testament to the leadership of Chairman Roberts and Ranking Member Stabenow.

A lot of people probably don't realize that although North Carolina is a relatively small State, with the majority of our population in urban centers, we are also one of the top 10 agriculture States. We have over 80 commodities raised in our State which contribute about $84 billion to our State in revenue. So it is a very important sector--in fact, I would argue, the most important sector.

It is absolutely important that we get the farm bill right and that we have fair treatment for all crops. Chairman Roberts is working on that, and I am going to do everything I can to help him as we work with the House Members in conference.

I want to spend the remaining part of my time talking about something that is also very important.

About 80 percent of the farm bill is dedicated to the SNAP program. We heard Senator Ernst talk about it in her comments. It is a very important program for nutritional assistance, but it is also important we implement policies that make sure it is sustainable over time and that for those who are reliant on it, we ultimately do everything we can for those who are capable to no longer rely on it. How do we do that?

Right now, there is a program for adults where, if you don't have dependents, there is an expectation about work requirements, but I believe we have to make sure we have more people looking for work, being trained for work as a requirement for getting the SNAP benefits.

There will be a lot of people who are going to talk about the heartless nature of this program, but let's talk about what is really being proposed versus what you may hear in a floor speech or in the press.

What this program is about is for people between the ages of 18 and 50 who do not have children under the age of 6. Why 6? Because at that point they are generally going to school, so daycare issues are not as great. We are not talking about people who have a health problem or someone who has a disability. They are exempted.

We are talking about adults who may have older children, who are able-bodied, and should be expected to work or do some sort of community service as a condition for getting the SNAP benefit.

There are a lot of people we think we can provide the benefit, get them to work a minimum of 20 hours a week, and ultimately maybe get them a job where they would no longer need the SNAP benefit and be free of any dependence on government to make their ends meet.

There are also people who may not have skills that can get them into a job at this point. So if you can't find a 20-hour-a-week job, you can at least perhaps get into a job training program so you have the necessary skills to make a living wage.

A couple of months ago, I was visiting a center in Charlotte, about 15 minutes out of my hometown, which has been stood up by Goodwill. It takes all comers. Anybody who wants new job skills can come to this facility. They can pursue certifications. They can do the prerequisite work there to then go to a community college or university. This program is about saying: If you don't have the skills you need today to get into that job that would free you from government assistance, then I think it is reasonable to expect that maybe 20 hours a week you go to training programs like this so you are better prepared to do it over time.

That is essentially the nature of the amendment I have filed, along with the support of Senator Cornyn and Senator Heller.

There are a couple of reasons why you want to do this. We need to make sure we can get as many people to work, No. 1, so they can be free of government assistance; and, No. 2, to make sure the economic burden on taxpayers does not become so great that, at some point, the only way we can pay for the SNAP benefit is to cut the SNAP benefit. In other words, I want to make sure these safety nets are always well-funded and always there for people who need it.

I think this amendment and an opportunity to talk about it, and potentially make progress on this farm bill, is something I am excited about. I think we can do it in a way to make sure people who genuinely need it will get it, but those who genuinely have an opportunity to free themselves from government assistance over time can do that too.

I will leave you with this. When I was 17 years old, I was supposed to go into the Air Force, and I was discharged because of an automobile accident. I had moved out of our home when I was 17. I found myself not going to college and actually not being employed. Fortunately, for me, there was a community college or a technical school back in Nashville, TN, that I went to which gave me the job skills that, over a very short period of time, gave me a job which ultimately led to my professional career, and I guess ultimately led to me being a U.S. Senator. So I am speaking from personal experience.

If I had taken the path of maybe just looking for a program that didn't have a work requirement, didn't necessarily have the motivation to go down the path I did--there are people out there whom I think we are going to lose who could be some of the greatest business executives, plant managers, artisans, and trades men and women we have ever seen. That is why programs like this and amendments like this I think require serious consideration and hopefully the support of the Senate.

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