Ann Kirkpatrick: “I was absent today due to a medical emergency. Had I been present, I would have voted: ``yea'' on Roll Call No. 28…”

The current benefit level is not simply inadequate.

It is not only a question of fairness, but also an important investment in the future of our agricultural economy.

SNAP and our Federal safety net programs are a hand-up, not a hand-out, and many of us on this Committee once utilized the program.

I come from a multi-generational family of ranchers in northern Arizona.