Political Quotes

“That being the case, Mr. Chairman, I yield myself the balance of my time. Mr. Chairman, I think it's worth noting that, when the Ag Committee put this bill together, a bill which had bipartisan support, overwhelming support from both sides of the aisle in the process, we understood that reform had to be achieved across the board. We have reforms in the commodity title. The direct payment program goes away. We have reforms in the conservation program, $6 billion worth of savings through reforms. And, yes, we address the nutrition title. We tried, in good faith, to pick programs that would not, in the eyes of the committee as a whole, create huge hardship on citizens. How did we do that? Well, categorical eligibility. If you receive some other Federal welfare benefit, under present law, you automatically get food stamps. We simply say, you have to apply. Demonstrate your income, demonstrate your assets. If you qualify, we help you. But you've got to prove you qualify. Now, some may argue about what those assets and income levels are, but that's not the debate today. It's automatic food stamps. Something called LIHEAP, where a number of States use the flexibility of the '96 law to say we'll help you with your home heating, and then you can automatically qualify for food stamps. There are actually some States that send out a dollar to qualify for a free month's worth of automatic food stamps. We simply say in the bill, States, if you want to do this, power to you.…”