End Hunger Now

Floor Speech

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Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, under Donald Trump, America is joining the ranks of other countries in all the wrong ways. Freedom House now lists us among nations where judges and prosecutors face political attacks.

Reporters Without Borders says that our press freedom has sunk to a historic low.

Now, Trump has crossed a line that no U.S. President ever dared cross: He withheld food assistance that Americans were legally entitled to, blocking nutrition benefits not because the country can't afford them but because he thinks it helps him politically.

In my work as co-chair of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, I have seen brutal regimes use food as a weapon and leaders starve their own people to hold on to power. I never ever thought I would see a U.S. President try to rip a page from the same playbook.

What a shameful moment in our history, and I will continue to fight to end hunger now.

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