On the recordApril 26, 2018
I rise again today to decry the majority's war on the poor, especially those women who get up every single day and struggle as mothers, often are caretakers for elderly parents, who are juggling two and three minimum wage jobs at $7.25 an hour to take care of their families, and then being told that they are welfare cheats because they need assistance from programs like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program in order to meet basic food needs. The last time I checked, Mr. Speaker, food was not a luxury, but a basic life necessity. In a few weeks, this House will take up a bill which has been designated H.R. 2, an enumeration which reflects the majority's priorities. Now, as you recall, Mr. Speaker, H.R. 1 was reserved for the over $1 trillion tax giveaway we gave to corporations and to the wealthy. And as has been noted earlier in our morning hour, we are facing a sovereign debt crisis because that bill will thrust us into trillions of dollars of debt in the future. So what does H.R. 2 do? H.R. 2 makes very harmful changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, cutting $23 billion in funding, reducing eligibility, and to generate resentment against the poor so that these draconian cuts will be tolerated by the public. After all, we have to pay for H.R. 1 some kind of way, so H.R. 2 is the solution. The numerous ideological and unproven policies that simply stigmatize and punish the poor are what constitutes H.R.…
