Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to insert into the Record the story of Naquila, a mother from Little Rock, Arkansas, just west of Memphis, a face of hunger in America. The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the gentleman from Tennessee? There was no objection. Naquila has struggled most of her adult life to support her children. She has 12-year-old twins and a 4-year-old boy. When her twins were younger, she worked two jobs to support her family but barely got by. (She did not qualify for any benefits at the time.) There were times that her utilities/electricity was cut off because she failed to pay the bills on time. She would skip breakfast and lunch and just eat a small dinner to ensure there was enough food for her kids, but even then, they had to improvise to make what little food supplies they had last the week. Things finally started to look up when she got a job, but she did not qualify for maternity leave when she had her third child, so received SNAP benefits during her six week maternity leave. Naquila worked two jobs to try and support her family; referring to a time in her life when she did not benefit from SNAP or any other form of assistance. ``I was making too much to get food stamps but I wasn't making enough to keep a sufficient amount of food in my home when it was me with my two kids. It was hard. It was really hard. We survived off of things like grilled cheese, and noodles, things that I could afford to buy for less than $1.…”