On the recordJuly 1, 2020
I want to thank the Senator from Michigan for her leadership on the Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Committee, helping to pass and leading the last farm bill in the Senate, along with Senator Roberts and so many of us who are on that committee. We understand that rural America is hurting right now, and rural America is actually part of the solution as well for so many people who are hungry and who need help. This pandemic and its economic impact has left 41 million Americans unemployed and strained the financial security of hundreds of thousands of families across this country. I have always worked to ensure, from the minute I got on the Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Committee, that we focus on nutrition. Programs like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program--or, as it is known, SNAP--are the place to do this: to provide meaningful relief to families, children, senior citizens, veterans. People all over this country, people who never thought they would be out of a job, people who used to--and I heard this story in Minnesota-- volunteer in food banks, now they are standing in line at food banks because they unexpectedly lost their jobs. Many of us have seen this. I have visited these food banks. Even before the pandemic, more than 37 million people, including more than 11 million children, were living in a food-insecure household.…
