Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2012

Floor Speech

Mr. COHEN. I appreciate the Member from Carmel yielding time to the gentleman from Memphis.

This is unfortunate. Mr. Kingston, in presenting his side of the budget, was almost apologetic about WIC, and I can understand that, why he would be apologetic.

This is a sacred portion of the budget to people on my side of the aisle, and it should be sacred to all people in America--newborn mothers, babies, and children under 5 who are identified as nutritionally at risk, and yet we are cutting that budget 13 percent. There's good reason you'd be almost ashamed to introduce it. And the way he introduced it showed concern. He thought it was difficult, and it is.

The fact is some people talk about, in difficult economic times, everybody has to tighten their belt and everybody ought to tighten their belts equally. Well, what about the obesely wealthy? They're not being asked to tighten their belt at all. In fact, there's not a belt big enough to go around their obesely successful selves. They are doing great.

And it seems like in this budget there are only about two things that seem to be sacred. One is tax cuts for the rich. The Bush tax cuts that were created when there was a surplus created by a Democratic Congress and a Democratic President, Bill Clinton. Those tax cuts were passed because we had a surplus. Now we've got a great deficit and they are being extended, and even to people making over $1 million a year. There is rejection of having them pay more so that mothers, babies, and children under 5 identified as nutritionally at risk can get the WIC payments. There's something wrong here.

Economists estimate that for every $1 invested in WIC, there are savings between $1.50 and $3 in health care costs just in the first 60 days after an infant's birth. Talk about a return on investment.

However, my colleagues on the other side of the aisle obviously think this return isn't good enough and so we should gut the program, just like what they want to do with Medicare, until it can no longer function adequately to serve so many of the Americans who need it the most.

This measure funds the WIC program at $686 million less than the current level, which is the equivalent of kicking off 475,000 eligible mothers, infants, and children.

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The CHAIR. The time of the gentleman has expired.

Mr. FARR. I yield the gentleman an additional minute.

Mr. COHEN. It's equivalent to kicking 475,000 eligible mothers, infants, and children off one of the most cost-effective programs in our country. It will cost Tennessee over $1 million. If we get rid of tax breaks for millionaires and billionaires for 1 week, we could pay for the entire WIC program for a year.

I cannot see this. It seems to me it's distorted values, and I would ask that they reconsider and put the WIC program back to its basic level.

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Mr. COHEN. Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the last word.

The Acting CHAIR. The gentleman from Tennessee is recognized for 5 minutes.

Mr. COHEN. The gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Davis) brought up a quote about how you look at government. And it was Hubert Humphrey who said that governments are judged on how they treat those in the dawn of life--the young; in the twilight of life--the old; and the shadows of life--the disabled, people with handicaps. And that is the way you should judge it. I sometimes think with this budget and what we're seeing here from the other side is they think the way you judge a government is by the way it treats the millionaires, the billionaires, the way it treats the oil and gas industry, or the way it treats the Wall Street folks who do the hedge funds. And I think if that's the way you're being judged, it's going to be a harsh, harsh condemnation.

My friend from Indiana (Mr. Burton) came down and he spoke and he said something about, look at what happened in the last election. Well, I'll tell you what happened in the last election--it was in New York State and the people spoke loudly. In a district that in 2010 was strongly Republican, they said we don't want Medicare destroyed, we want to keep Medicare, and they elected a Democrat. And the people are seeing what these budget cuts are doing.

One of the reasons we've got all these problems and the reasons why we have more and more people falling into needs for the SNAP program and the WIC program and others is because the middle class is disappearing in this country because jobs are being shipped overseas. We're giving millionaires and billionaires tax breaks, and we're saying everybody should share, but the sharing isn't going to the rich; it's only going to the poor people, and they're getting cut and cut and cut.

This WIC program, Women, Infants and Children, should be the last place anybody would consider cutting, it should be the absolute totally last place; and yet the cuts are there, 13 percent. The fact is those people are in the place in life where if we don't give moneys to the food for pregnant mothers we're going to have more infant mortality. In my district, we've got an infant mortality rate similar to Third World countries. We've tried to have programs passed up here to deal with infant mortality and to study it and to try to save the lives of babies, and we're not going to be doing that.

I've heard a lot from the other side about being pro-life. We have a difference on that. I'm pro-choice, but I'm pro-life after birth. And pro-life shouldn't just be during a period of gestation; it should include a time after birth. And we're not hearing pro-life-type statements and pro-life-type budget provisions; it is all about saving money on the backs of the poor. This is something that is not appropriate, and it's something that I think should shame the other side.

Mr. Kingston is a fine man. I heard him say he voted against the Bush tax cuts, which I did. I got confused on what you did on Libya, but I don't know what that had to do with it. You voted with KUCINICH? Well, I didn't. I don't know what it has to do with women, infants, and children. There's a whole lot going on in Africa. That's another issue.

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