On the recordMay 16, 2013
Today I rise to voice my opposition to the proposed $20 billion in cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, also known as the SNAP program. This program currently provides food assistance to 47 million Americans who otherwise would not have access to one of the most basic human necessities--food. Two million low-income Americans--most of whom are working families with children, senior citizens, and people with disabilities--will lose their food assistance as a result of these cuts. Of that number, 200,000 children would also lose access to their free school meals because their eligibility for these meals is tied to their receipt of SNAP. Let me ask my Republican colleagues: How often do your children have to learn on empty stomachs or come home and study on empty stomachs? I dare say not often, if ever. But that is what the Republicans are proposing that we do to close to a quarter of a million children. They are asking them not only to learn on empty stomachs, but also to come home and study on empty stomachs. This cannot stand. ____________________
