Dwight Evans: “I want to thank my colleagues for holding this Special Order hour, the CBC Special Order hour this evening, as we…”

“I want to thank my colleagues for holding this Special Order hour, the CBC Special Order hour this evening, as we discuss SNAP and other efforts by the President and the GOP to shed the social safety net. {time} 1930 Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, Chairman Richmond, for allowing me to have this opportunity to lead what we call the ``Conscience of the Congress'' of the Congressional Black Caucus, who is the one who has led this and come up with this idea for us. As we paint a picture of the Black community in 2018, it is clear that we have a lot to lose. Too many of our neighborhoods are, unfortunately, still plagued by rampant poverty, dysfunction, and crime. These are very serious issues that our community has to deal with. But instead of the GOP Congress working with us side by side in a bipartisan manner, we have a group, Mr. Speaker, hell-bent on enacting jaded, outdated, economic backwards legislation in the form of SNAP that would throw thousands of recipients off the roles. According to the nonpartisan Center for Budget and Policy Priorities, SNAP is the country's most effective antihunger program helping one in five Americans afford a basic diet. For over 15 years, State and Federal policymakers have worked on a bipartisan basis to strengthen SNAP. The GOP would take a large step backwards, reducing or eliminating benefits for more than 1 million households with more than 2 million people.…”