Juan Vargas: “I thank the ranking member for yielding. Madam Chairman, I would like to thank the chairman and the ranking member of…”

“I thank the ranking member for yielding. Madam Chairman, I would like to thank the chairman and the ranking member of the Agriculture Committee for their leadership and their hard work in bringing a farm bill to the floor this year. I rise in support of many of the provisions in the FARRM Act, but with grave concerns about the cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, SNAP. I strongly support the provisions in the FARRM Act that expand funding for the Specialty Crop Block Grants, that restore funding for the Specialty Crop Research Initiative and that maintain funding for pest and disease control, market access programs and organic agriculture. While the FARRM Act provides many positive provisions that support a strong agriculture safety net, the $20.5 billion in cuts to the SNAP program is unconscionable. If the FARRM Act is enacted, the CBO estimates that nearly 2 million low-income people will lose SNAP benefits and that another 1.8 million people live in households that would experience a benefit cut of $90 per month. We cannot continue to balance the budget on the backs of our poor, our children, our seniors, and our veterans. I want to support a farm bill, but I cannot support these cuts to SNAP. I do, though, thank them very much for their hard work. {time} 1620”