Relating to Consideration of House Amendment to Senate Amendment to Federal Agriculture Reform and Risk Management Act of 2013
Floor Speech
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Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, I am opposed to this rule and the $40 billion in disastrous cuts to the food stamp program that the House Republican majority is trying to make law.
This is a cut of $40 billion from the food stamp program. It goes against decades of bipartisan support for the fight against hunger in the United States. It is a reflection of how extreme today's Republican Party has become. Even former Republican Senator Bob Dole has called these egregious cuts ``an about-face on our progress fighting hunger.''
If these cuts become law, over 4 million of the Nation's poorest citizens--children, seniors, veterans, and the disabled--would go hungry in the United States of America, the most bountiful Nation in the world. This is even as Republicans continue to give $90 billion in crop insurance subsidies to some of America's wealthiest families and agribusiness.
For food stamp recipients that include a family of four, if their income is $23,000 or less, that would give them eligibility for food stamps.
Let's talk about the Crop Insurance Program. You have got 26 beneficiaries of that program today who get at least a million dollars in a subsidy from U.S. taxpayers. They do not have any income threshold. They can get the money under any set of circumstances. And the top 1 percent of most farm operators in the Nation each get $220,000.
You want to talk about the most needy? These are not the most needy. Cut out the $90 billion in the subsidies to the richest people in the Nation.
The cuts are awful enough, but the majority's plan also includes cruel, mean-spirited restrictions. For instance, it encourages Governors to slash families from the food stamp rolls who cannot find work or a job training program for 20 hours a week. It rewards these Governors with half of the savings and allows them to use the money for tax cuts for the wealthy or whatever else they want.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The time of the gentlewoman has expired.
Mr. McGOVERN. I yield the gentlewoman an additional 30 seconds.
Ms. DeLAURO. Even if the food stamp recipient, including parents with young children and those with disabilities, is actively searching for a job, the House majority would end their benefits.
This is immoral. It goes against the values that we hold dear in the United States of America. Cutting 4 million Americans who live on the edge while providing subsidies for the wealthiest is wrong, and I urge my colleagues to oppose this rule and to oppose the cruelty that this rule embodies.
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