Providing for Consideration of Southeast Arizona Land Exchange and Conservation Act, Restoring Health Communities Act, Nutrition Reform and Work Opportunity Act

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Sessions), my friend, the chairman of the committee, for yielding me the customary 30 minutes.

I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, this is a sad day in the people's House. Today, the Republican leadership is bringing to the floor one of the most heartless pieces of legislation I have ever seen, a bill to take food away from some of our most vulnerable neighbors.

After a $20 billion cut was voted down by the House in June, the Republican leadership has decided to double down on the cruelty with a $40 billion cut. It is terrible policy wrapped in a terrible process.

This is a 109-page bill that would cut the SNAP program, cut billions of dollars and make major changes to the way SNAP works; and there hasn't been a single hearing, not a single markup. It didn't even go through the Agriculture Committee. And today it's being brought to the floor under a closed rule. It was just cooked up in the majority leader's office as some sort of Heritage Foundation fever dream.

CBO says that the bill would cut 3.8 million low-income people from SNAP in 2014 and millions more in the following years. These are some of America's poorest adults, as well as many low-income children, seniors, and families that work for low wages. Let me say that again, Mr. Speaker, so there's no confusion. People who work but who don't make enough to feed their families will be cut from this program.

The biggest cut affects millions of unemployed, childless adults who live in areas of high unemployment. These are poor people. Many don't have the skills or education they need to find a job. It is a group whose average income is about $2,500 a year. And for most, SNAP is the only government assistance that they receive.

Now, if that weren't bad enough, 210,000 children in these families would also lose their free school meals; and 170,000 unemployed veterans will lose their SNAP benefits as well. Let me repeat: 170,000 veterans will lose their benefits. These are the people who have served our country. How can you do that?

Mr. Speaker, we are 45 years and a million miles away from the War on Poverty. The Republican leadership has instead launched a war on poor people.

This bill is not about reform. It is not about making SNAP a better, stronger program.

Mr. Speaker, it is not easy to be poor in America. It is not a glamorous life. It is a struggle just to make it through the day. The average SNAP benefit is $1.50 per meal. Housing costs, transportation costs, childcare costs, they all add up.

You know, fighting hunger used to be a bipartisan issue. Think of people like Bob Dole and Bill Emerson. And I know that a lot of Republicans--moderates and conservatives--are very nervous about this bill. So I would say to them: don't do this. Please don't do this. Don't go along with cutting food benefits to millions of struggling families. Don't make hundreds of thousands of children and seniors and veterans go hungry. Don't put the food banks and church pantries in your districts into an even deeper hole. The people who rely on SNAP to feed their families struggle every single day. Please don't make their lives even harder. It is not too late. We do not need to pass this bill in order to go to conference on the farm bill.

I would urge my colleagues to search their consciences and to vote against this bill.

I reserve the balance of my time.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, Republican talking points aside, according to CBO, this bill, if passed, will result in 3.8 million people losing their benefits, including 170,000 veterans. That is shameful.

I appreciate the gentleman's concern about the waivers, but I remind him that his Governor of Texas, Rick Perry, has requested waivers on a number of occasions because people haven't been able to find jobs in his State of Texas. So if you've got a problem with the waivers, you ought to talk to your own Governor.

At this point, I yield to the gentlelady from Ohio (Ms. Fudge) for a unanimous consent request.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself 5 seconds to remind the gentleman who just spoke that there are 36,000 households in his district in Georgia who rely on SNAP. I think they're counting on him to vote a different way.

At this point, I yield 1 minute and 15 seconds to the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Butterfield).

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself 5 seconds.

I just wanted to say to the gentleman from Oregon that there are one in five Oregonians who are on food stamps as we gather here today. In his district, there are nearly 60,000. You talked about trees, but there are a lot of people that will be adversely affected.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, let me just suggest to my Republican colleagues that maybe they ought to deal with sequester, maybe they ought to stop threatening to shut the government down, and maybe they ought to bring the President's jobs bill to the floor to put people back to work, and, in the meantime, they ought not to throw poor people off food assistance.

I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Lee).

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, let me just say to my friend from Texas, we know exactly what you are all doing here. What you are doing is throwing 3.8 million people off of this program who, quite frankly, rely on it to put food on the table.

And I just want to point out for the record, the average length of someone on SNAP is about 9 months. There are people who work, who work full time who are on SNAP because they don't earn enough. People do want to work. People don't want to be on public assistance. But the bottom line is that we have had a Congress here that has blocked every major piece of legislation that might produce jobs. So let's get our facts straight here.

At this point, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Pascrell).

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I need to qualify something here. I want to respond to what the gentleman just said.

The fact of the matter is, when children's parents get cut from SNAP, then children are no longer eligible for free breakfast and lunch in school. That's where we get the number of 270,000 kids who will lose their free breakfast and lunch programs. That's the connection. So it is connected. So I would point that out because it is important. I don't want anyone to be fooled by the fact that somehow this doesn't affect school meals. It does, very directly.

At this point, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Cohen).

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, before I close, I'd like to insert into the Record letters from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, the United States Conference of Mayors, AARP, and a list of a number of other groups that are opposed to the bill.

And I'd also like to insert into the Record a September 4 New York Times story, entitled, ``On the Edge of Poverty, at the Center of a Debate on Food Stamps.''

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source