Motion to Go to Conference on H.R. 2744, Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2006
MOTION TO GO TO CONFERENCE ON H.R. 2744, AGRICULTURE, RURAL DEVELOPMENT, FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION, AND RELATED AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2006 -- (House of Representatives - October 19, 2005)
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Mr. DOGGETT. Mr. Speaker, I applaud the gentlewoman for her very important motion to instruct. It is a motion to instruct that is designed to prevent an ideological experiment being conducted on some of the most vulnerable people in our society. It is about what has gone wrong in Texas, but it is much more than that because we are about to have a very bad precedent established that will spread across this country affecting the old, the poor, the hungry, the victims of Katrina, and the victims who are left behind.
As all the Nation saw in the disaster that was the Federal response to Katrina, a hurricane is not the only time that working poor people in this country get left behind. The Texas experiment on poor people suggests that the answer to food security that food stamps provide is to close one out of every four offices that people go to to assess their food stamp needs, to fire a significant number of public employees who have expertise in this area, and to suggest to old and poor and hungry people that what they need to do instead of turning to a public servant is to log on the Internet.
Yes, that is actually what the State of Texas is suggesting. And they offer to these poor people, not all of whom are literate in English or Spanish much less literate in the language of e-commerce, they offer them an alternative, which is the one that so many American families have faced, to dial in and be put on hold, much as the victims of Katrina were put on hold. You punch in a number and then you get referred to another number and you get to wait and wait and wait; and maybe eventually this company, Accenture, which chose to establish its base not in America but in Bermuda so it could dodge as much of its tax responsibility as it possibly could, that this company will substitute for a face-to-face evaluation.
I represent the poorest county in the United States, Starr County, Texas, the poorest statistical metropolitan area, McAllen-Mission; and a lot of people along the way through the Mesquite trees up to Austin, Texans, who depend on food stamps for enough nourishment to get their kids to school, or to be able to survive as a senior. These folks are going to be directly affected.
Currently, they are able to go in, and certainly along the border area if they feel more comfortable in Spanish, to talk face-to-face with someone who has expertise in this area, to talk with them and have that experienced public servant assess what their needs are and ensure that taxpayers are protected, and that there is not fraud, and ensure that their needs are fully satisfied.
Now those folks in Hebbronville, San Diego, George West, and Lockhart are being told go to the Internet or go to some long-distance number because you will no longer be able to assess your needs on the local level. And in McAllen, Mission, and Austin, staff will be cut by 50 percent.
That is why, Mr. Speaker, I have been joined by 10 of my Texas colleagues in questioning this scheme and raising questions to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. And I will provide for the RECORD a report from the Center on Public Policy Priorities in Austin, an excellent report, under its director, Judge F. Scott McCown, and with the able participation of Celia C. Hagert, analyzing this, as well as an editorial that is on point in today's Houston Chronicle.
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