John J. Faso: “I want to thank G.T. Thompson, my colleague from Pennsylvania, our subcommittee chairman on the Nutrition Subcommittee…”

“I want to thank G.T. Thompson, my colleague from Pennsylvania, our subcommittee chairman on the Nutrition Subcommittee for his leadership. G.T. Thompson deeply feels about the condition that people have who may be living in poverty, who may be suffering from food insecurity for themselves and their family. And I say to Chairman Thompson that it has been a pleasure to serve for the last 15 months under his leadership on the Nutrition Subcommittee. The reforms that we are seeking to implement in H.R. 2 in the SNAP program, in this 2018 farm bill, are truly intended to assist people out of dependency and into employment. I have heard from so many employers throughout my district in the Catskills and Hudson Valley and in central New York that they have jobs available, but they simply can't find qualified people to meet those jobs and to fulfill those responsibilities. In fact, this morning in the Budget Committee, we had the Director of the Congressional Budget Office before us, and one of the topics that was raised was the fact that there are very low workforce participation rates among able-bodied people between 18 and 65 in our Nation. And this is part of the problem that we have a workforce participation rate nationally of approximately 63 percent.…”