Jim McGovern

I tend to agree. Americans are big-hearted folks who love seeing the U.S. flag on donated rice and other U.S. commodities.

Are there any regulations that we can undo to make it easier for farmers, especially beginning farmers, to have access to credit?

I would just, again, I end as I began, to caution this Committee and this Congress from doing anything that would make it more difficult for this population.

The challenge is to make sure the resources are there so that they can be widespread.

I want to thank all of your for your testimony, and I appreciate your answer on ways to incentivize people to make healthier choices.

This negative rhetoric has real consequences, and it really needs to stop.

Oftentimes they are characterized as people who just don't want to work, or they are lazy, or they are trying to take advantage of the system, when in my experience, from what I have been able to tell, again, that is not an accurate…

I think that is a very ill-advised policy approach, to withdraw more food assistance from this desperately poor group.

Too much rhetoric has been focused on criticizing the SNAP program and impugning the character of SNAP recipients.

I commend Chairman Conaway and Ranking Member Peterson in their recent communication to the House Budget Committee, requesting that the Committee consider the current economic conditions within rural communities and the significant…

System integration with Medicaid and multiple other programs is absolutely critical.

We really would like to see the program focus more on outcomes and simplify it a bit for states.

We are strongly in favor of work rules for able-bodied adults, but... we have to make sure that we provide real opportunity and don't use the enforcement of those rules simply as a sanction policy.

We are strong proponents of work programs that actually try to find people jobs, try to help them stay in those jobs, and provide the short-term training needed based on what actually is available in local communities.

I want to say that whatever you do in reauthorization, that essential responsiveness of the program needs to be preserved.

Please do not do anything that will make hunger worse in our country.

Don't screw around with the program, period. There is no reason whatsoever, based on all of our now 20 hearings, to undermine SNAP through structural changes, block grants, further restrictions, more onerous requirements, or cuts.

Don't even think of separating the nutrition title from the farm bill. That would be a huge mistake, and if it is done, I guarantee you there will be no farm bill.

Our members understand the importance of border security, and enforcement, and support that, but along with that has to come a system of legal status for workers on our farms.

Fully 51 percent of the employees on America's dairy farms are immigrant workers.

These jobs are paying $40,000, $60,000 a year that are going unfilled.

If they are able to work, why would they have 90 days?

We need to be very careful in this Committee before we start going down a road that may end up adversely impacting many Americans.

This population doesn't fit into a stereotype or a neat generalization. It is a complicated population.

If they are able to work, why would they have 90 days?