We need to make sure that SNAP works and provides a benefit that is adequate to feed children and to feed families.

I think every single person in this Congress should be ashamed of that fact.

SNAP is working, and my hope is that this Committee will look for ways to strengthen it so that we can continue to give families a hand up when they need it.

But the problem is there are a lot of Members of Congress who are instinctively against SNAP because they think it creates dependency, when the evidence is the opposite.

We need to get this right. We need to do this better.

We should all be ashamed that there are so many people, of all ages, in our country--the richest country in the history of the world--that are hungry.

This is an interesting hearing, in the context of something that we are beginning to talk about in this Committee, and in other committees, about the issue of GMO labeling.

Holding a White House conference like this would be a major step forward in our effort to reduce hunger and poverty.

I think sunshine and transparency are a good thing. So I would hope that Congress would move along the line of greater transparency and giving the American people what they want.

I think we should have that discussion. But let's be honest, that is going to require additional resources.

Quite frankly, I am puzzled by this debate, because I fall on the side of the fact that if a majority of people in this country want there to be GMO labeling so they know what they are buying, then I am for it.

our safety net has some holes in it, and it must be strengthened to meet some of our families' most basic needs.

the hard reality is that we can and we must do a better job in fighting hunger and poverty in America.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And thank you, Dr. Morris, for being here. I appreciate all the work that you do.

By the way, I am talking about a livable wage.

And yet I am reading from the Washington Post Fact Checker that says that people who claim that mandatory labeling is going to cost consumers significantly more in groceries per family per year, earned three Pinocchios.

It infuriates me that, you know--that there are too many workers in this country who earn such abysmally low wages.

Please tell the people of the United States thank you because in this village, where I can't feed my son...

I am most proud of our international food aid programs.

Can you do something about this?

It is not just about giving people food. It is about worker training. It is about getting people in the community back on their feet.

Well, being a Congressman, sometimes you work all day, and accomplish nothing. But farmers, every day, you produce something.

You could live without a lot of things, but you can't live without food, and we can't get food without agriculture and farmers.

But I guess the point is, shouldn't consumers have a right to be able to know that?

I do believe there ought to be a national standard because I do understand the patchwork of various state initiatives is not in anybody's interest.