Political Quotes

“this is Roberts amendment No. 948. This amendment would help rein in the largest expenditure within the Department of Agriculture budget--the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, SNAP, more commonly known as food stamps. The Senate Agriculture Committee included minimal savings under food stamps--around $4 billion over the 10-year budget window. I know people have different views, but I would say that it is certainly minimal. I think we could have done more in committee last week. I introduced an amendment at that time. I withdrew it to make sure we could get this to the floor. We must do much more in a responsible manner. Look at the House Agriculture Committee, which marked up a farm bill with over $20 billion in savings from SNAP. That bill was marked up and passed with bipartisan support as of last week. We can restore integrity to the program while providing benefits to those truly in need and save approximately an additional $30 billion. Note that I say ``while providing benefits to those truly in need.'' I am not proposing a dramatic change in the policy of nutrition programs, such as block-granting programs to States. That would represent a dramatic change. Instead, this amendment enforces the principles of good government and restores SNAP and spending to much more responsible levels. Also, SNAP was exempted from the across-the-board cuts known as sequestration.…”