Government Funding

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, on Thursday, I sounded the alarm as the lapse in government funding endangered food assistance for 42 million Americans and rapidly approached. That was November 1, the approach date. I called on Senator Schumer to end the partisanship and vote for a clean extension of government funding.

Forty-five Democrats have opposed a clean extension of funding 13 times. Republicans have voted for it 13 times.

The Trump administration is putting a temporary bandaid on the program, tapping into emergency funds that will cover half a month of food stamps.

Meanwhile, I have Iowans calling my office, asking me where they can get food for their families.

This is a sad commentary on the politics in our Nation--in a nation of abundance.

I always say you are only nine meals away from a revolution. Just think, if you are a family, you have children, 3 days without any food, what action you might take if you can't properly feed them. We have seen those sorts of revolutions in other countries.

So let's feed the American people with the bipartisan cooperation they deserve and the bipartisan cooperation that has always been a part of the Food Stamp Program because, over decades ago, two famous Senators, Dole and McGovern, in a bipartisan fashion, came up with the idea that why should we have people that are nutrition deficient in the United States when the Federal Government has warehouses full of plenty of food. That is the basis for the Food Stamp Program. We should continue that bipartisan cooperation.

I hope the Democrats will wake up and give families a permanent solution to the government programs they rely on.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source