DeLauro Statement On Farm Bill Conferees

Statement

Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) released the following statement today after the announcement that the House of Representatives has named its members of the Farm Bill conference committee. DeLauro is a former chairwoman of the subcommittee responsible for funding the Agriculture Department.

"The $40 billion in cuts to food stamps, our most important anti-hunger program, that House Republicans are advancing, as well as their various other misguided proposals to further hurt those in need, are immoral and must be rejected. If their policy becomes law, over four million of our nation's most vulnerable people, including children, seniors, veterans and the disabled, will lose access to the food they need. This is even as Republicans continue to give $90 billion in crop insurance subsidies to some of America's wealthiest families and agribusiness.

"This is at a time when roughly one-fifth of U.S. households with children have experienced food insecurity. Put simply, that means they are hungry. They do not always know where their next meal is coming from. Without access to nutritious food, children's brains do not properly develop, they cannot properly learn and they cannot reach their full potential, which hurts them, their families and our country.

"As former senators Bob Dole and Tom Daschle--one a Republican, one a Democrat--put it, this House, "severed the vital tie that helps connect our food system with those who struggle with hunger in our backyard.' Breaking the strong, bipartisan coalition--betraying nutrition, agriculture, homeless, seniors, education, and health care organizations--that have traditionally supported the Farm Bill would be bad for farmers and families. It must be rejected."

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