On the recordJuly 11, 2013
Mr. Speaker, it is no secret that the Republican Tea Party has a national agenda that is playing out right here in this Chamber today. You are attempting to defund food stamps--yes, you are-- and place poor people, which includes children and the elderly and veterans, in a position that none of you would want to be in. When it was time to reauthorize the farm bill, Republicans cut $16 billion in food stamps. And what happened? The Speaker refused to schedule the bill for floor action, not because the cuts were too deep, but because they were not deep enough. And so the Ag Committee made deeper cuts, this time $20 billion in cuts. When the bill was debated, Republicans then added mean-spirit amendments that doomed the bill. Now you bring us another bill with no nutrition title at all. We cannot stand by and be silent when Republicans take these actions that offend what we are as Americans. We can do better than this. The SPEAKER pro tempore. Members are reminded to address their remarks to the Chair and not directly to other Members of the body in the second person.
