Glenn Thompson: “I thank the gentleman for being a part of the Agriculture Committee and thank him for his great work on behalf of the…”

“I thank the gentleman for being a part of the Agriculture Committee and thank him for his great work on behalf of the folks in Tennessee. As the gentleman from Tennessee was saying, what we are talking about is, part of the nutrition title is really looking at making improvements to it. We are not really doing anything to people. We want to do things for people. And, quite frankly, for 65 percent of the folks who find themselves in a situation where they are on the SNAP program, or Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, I don't want to say nothing is going to change, but it is just going to get better. We are going to get them greater access to healthy foods. Those are the 65 percent of the folks who are under the age of 18 or over the age of 65, or living with a disability. And so for the 35 percent that find themselves on this program--usually for temporary times--it is because of financial situations. And that is their number one need. They are unemployed, underemployed. Maybe they have been living in poverty for generations. And, yes, we want to provide that safety net for food, but we want to provide them actually an onramp to opportunity as the gentleman talked about. We don't force anybody to do anything. If you are able-bodied and you fall within that category, that age of 18 to 59--and I guess if you don't want to take access, take the opportunity for that job training, then you can self-select out of the SNAP program.…”