Nutrition Reform and Work Opportunity Act of 2013

Floor Speech

Ms. CLARKE. Mr. Speaker, today I rise to voice my opposition to H.R. 3102, the Nutrition Reform and Work Opportunity Act of 2013, which calls for $40 billion in cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, also known as the SNAP program. This program currently provides food assistance to a total of 47 million Americans, 3.1 million of which are New Yorkers. Without SNAP, these recipients would not have access to one of our most basic human needs--food.

Four to six million low income Americans, including low income children, seniors, and the disabled, will lose their food assistance as a result of these cuts. These cuts would come in addition to a benefit cut already scheduled to take place in November.

The SNAP program is a promise our government made to Americans to ensure there would be assistance for both the working poor and those individuals out of work--including parents and their children--so they can afford food. It also helps low income working families whose wages are not sufficient to make ends meet.

I am particularly concerned about the negative impact the cuts will have on the nutritional needs of children. If children go to school hungry and malnourished, learning becomes even more difficult. The worst possible thing we could do is deny healthy meals to needy children at a time when they need all the help they can get to succeed in the classroom and begin to build productive lives.

We have seen in recent years that families continue to face a shortage of jobs or are being paid wages too low to lift them out of poverty. This legislation does nothing to help this group of Americans and will lead to even greater costs in the long run.

One thing we should all remember is that increasing hunger is not the answer to reducing the deficit.

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