The SNAP benefit is too low.

Nobody here is arguing that we should cut SNAP, am I correct?

I am also for a plan to end hunger. We don't really have a plan in this country to end hunger.

the whole concept of categorical eligibility was introduced basically to do what I think everybody here wants, to make these programs more user friendly and more effective and efficient.

If we want to talk about a reform, we ought to be talking about a benefit that actually meets the need.

Thank you, Chairwoman Jackie Walorski, Ranking Member Jim McGovern, and Members of the Subcommittee on Nutrition for the opportunity to testify on the characteristics of the population served by the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance…

We need to keep the focus on the importance of SNAP, and the importance of having an adequate SNAP benefit as people are working their way through some of your programs to hopefully end up with a job.

I want us to first fund it adequately and I want us to make it work as best as possible.

To put it in perspective, I have a FAQ sheet here from Bread for the World, these are 2013 figures so it is probably a little bit different in 2015.

Every decision has a reaction, and every act has an act on the other side.

I find it a little bit curious that we seem to be singling out SNAP for review.

The majority of people on this program are kids, are senior citizens, are those who are disabled.

Thank you very much, Chairwoman Walorski, and congratulations on chairing your first hearing of this Subcommittee.

Two-thirds of SNAP recipients are not expected to work. They are children, they are senior citizens, and they are the disabled.

As a Member of Congress, I am ashamed of that fact. So I would say hunger is a political condition.

So I view this program as essential to making sure that people don't go hungry, and good nutrition is also essential for people to have a healthy life.

The people that I meet with regularly and the people who I see at food banks are not there because they want to be at food banks, it is because they have run out of money.

And let me just say this about the waivers: Republican governors as well as Democratic governors did that, and they did it not because they were trying to cheat the system.

We ought to make sure that the narrative that we are echoing here reflects the reality.

McGovern's comments about the need for these programs, and the fact that we are talking about them is not a reason to cut them unnecessarily or make them go away without good reason.

I hope that this is not going to be an exercise in another attack against poor people because I fear I have seen this movie before, and I didn't like it the first time.

And anybody who tells you, and I have to say this, I really feel strongly about this, that this benefit is enough ought to live on it.

Two-thirds of SNAP recipients are kids, seniors, or the disabled, most of whom are not expected to work.

They urge us not to cut SNAP, not to block grant SNAP. In fact, they urged us to strengthen the program by making it easier for eligible people to enroll and re-enroll in the program.

One of the biggest tragedies my years in the Housing Authority is the loss of the Self-Sufficiency Program.