Snap Benefits Are Needed By 42 Million Americans

Floor Speech

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Ms. STEVENS. Mr. Speaker, I thank my good colleague, the gentlewoman from Connecticut, for yielding time, and I reflect on this farm bill from the standpoint that at this period in time, Americans are paying more of their earned income for food than they have in the last 30 years.

Our President's FTC chair has notified us that grocery stores, big grocers, some food manufacturers, but mostly the grocers are price gouging.

If you are middle class, if you are poor, if you are trying to save for college for your kid, or if you are trying to save up for an unexpected occurrence, food is squeezing the middle class and working families of this country.

We have a responsibility to pass a farm bill that addresses the needs of the hungry and addresses the needs of our middle class.

We have to get real because what we do is we say, oh, you know what? We are going to cap you at this income level. If you are a single mom, and you are raising your kid, and you are $500 over that income level, you don't get the SNAP benefits.

I am sick of this type of governance. I am sick of this type of means testing. We did this in the pandemic. It wasn't hard.

Steve Mnuchin was able to give everybody a capped unemployment level, but when it comes to food, you have a Democratic Caucus over here fighting over and over and over again.

We have free and reduced lunch in our schools. Thanks to the Governor of Michigan for actually getting that done. We would like to see that in the United States of America.

This is real stuff, and kids are going to school hungry, and kids are ashamed when they are carrying in those meal cards, and parents are worried.

Do you know what we have? We have over a trillion dollars of credit card debt because people can't go to the grocery store.

They can't take their kids out to eat because it costs $50 for a family of four. You can't get lunch for under $15.

What are we litigating here? We are just filling the pockets of the grocers and the big business and the this and the that when we don't actually have a real North Star here in this Chamber.

Just one last fact: The maximum benefits of SNAP right now fell 19 percent short of covering basic meal costs.

One study revealed that in 98 percent of counties, SNAP benefits did not cover the cost of a modestly priced meal, so we are not even meeting the bare minimum, my friends. We are not even doing the bare minimum.

The House Democrats are going to continue to stand up to this wrong- minded package that will not be serving the American people.

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