G. K. Butterfield: “Thank you very much, Mr. McGovern, for yielding time. Mr. Speaker, the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Collins) who just…”

“Thank you very much, Mr. McGovern, for yielding time. Mr. Speaker, the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Collins) who just spoke, has finally acknowledged what so many other Republicans refuse to acknowledge: that they have made a political choice. They've made a political choice to defund the SNAP program. I'm glad that he publicly acknowledged that. Mr. Speaker, I rise to oppose H.R. 3102. The Republicans are determined to defund this program, a program that provides food assistance to low-income families and to more than 20 percent of my congressional district. The Agriculture Committee reported a bill that cut $16 billion from nutrition. The Speaker wouldn't schedule a vote. Why? Because the Tea Party said ``not enough cuts.'' The Republicans then increased nutrition cuts to $20.5 billion, and the Speaker crossed his fingers and hoped for passage. It went down on this floor in defeat. Not a single Democrat voted for it. Many Republicans said the cuts were not enough. Now here we are again today. The Republicans, driven by the irrational Tea Party, bring us another nutrition title that now cuts $40 billion from nutrition. My friends, I know that cutting the deficit is important to all of us, but do not reduce the deficit by depriving more than 3 million good Americans of the opportunity to eat. That's not who we are as a Nation.”