Snap Benefits Are Needed By 42 Million Americans

Floor Speech

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Ms. BROWN. Mr. Speaker, I thank Representative Hayes for organizing this Special Order hour on SNAP.

Today, I rise because tomorrow the House Agriculture Committee will vote on the GOP's partisan farm bill. If passed, it will force severe cuts to the SNAP program that would risk benefits for years to come.

SNAP, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly known as the Food Stamp program, is a vital resource to families and individuals who have fallen on hard times. In Ohio's 11th Congressional District, almost one in four households rely on SNAP benefits to put food on the table.

These are our friends, our family, neighbors, and my constituents. It shouldn't be controversial to want members of your community fed.

On the House Agriculture Committee, I am committed to making that known, but this farm bill will see the largest cut to SNAP benefits in over 30 years, taking nearly $30 billion in food out of the mouths of people who really need it.

Being poor isn't a condemnation of morals, but Republicans have shown they want to treat it that way, which is why I urge my Republican colleagues to reconsider their extreme proposal and to join Democrats as we continue to put people over politics.

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