Snap Benefits Are Needed By 42 Million Americans

Floor Speech

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Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi. Mr. Speaker, first of all, I am one of those Members who represent a significant agricultural district which actually has its economy based on agriculture. I also represent the district that former Congressman Jamie Whitten represented. Ultimately, he framed the farm bill such that it did not pit rural America against urban America.

This bill pits rural America against urban America, and that is not the purpose of a farm bill. Let's talk a little bit about it.

Mr. Speaker, you can't penalize the needy for the greedy. What I am saying in that respect is, so many people in this country are in need of nutrition benefits. That is why we have a farm bill. A substantial majority of the farm bill is devoted to nutrition, and rightfully so.

Let's talk a little bit about where I am with it. This is my fourth farm bill. I have gone through all of it. I have seen everything that has been had with it, but the important part is that I serve as the chair of the Task Force on Agriculture and Nutrition in the 21st Century, appointed by Leader Jeffries.

We went all over the country. We heard from people saying, look, there are important things for the farm bill, but it is all about compromise and working together.

What did we hear people say? The first thing they said: Food is medicine. If you are worried about healthcare in this country, if people don't have nutrition, that is a problem.

Today, the cost of food is steadily rising, which means Americans cannot afford to purchase healthy and nutritious meals.

In going around the country, there were a number of things that we heard from east, west, north, and south. People said that we must eliminate the hot food ban for SNAP recipients. SNAP recipients should have the benefit of hot meals. We must address the hunger among college students. We should protect SNAP against harmful cuts to eligibility requirements.

Talking about eligibility requirements, most people don't know that if you are on Social Security and Medicare, that counts against seniors' eligibility for SNAP benefits. By doing that, veterans are also penalized in the qualification for SNAP benefits.

We also have those individuals who have made a mistake. They have come out, but they are ineligible for SNAP benefits. We always talk about second-chance people, so why shouldn't formerly incarcerated people be eligible for food stamps?

Those are the things that we heard.

More importantly, this $30 billion cut is totally unreasonable. It makes no sense, and again, it penalizes people by putting politics over people. I hope when this issue is taken up tomorrow, Democrats will stand firm in their opposition against it.

If Republicans are genuinely interested in making this work, we can do that, but from the nutritional standpoint, don't penalize people who need help. The demonstration of their help is already here.

Mr. Speaker, I look forward to, after this issue is defeated, coming back together, pulling people together, working through all the logistics, and not being cute about how we fund certain programs and defund other programs.

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