Political Quotes

“I thank the gentleman so much for yielding. Mr. Speaker, I join my colleagues in praising Mr. McGovern for his leadership on this issue. Of the many people who are hungry, none of them have the money to lobby folks--the kids, the disabled people, the seniors, the elderly-- but we have a champion in this House, Jim McGovern. With the few seconds remaining, I want to talk a little bit about our economy. We have a capitalist economy, and it is countercyclical. The SNAP program works to provide a safety net so that when we have a Hurricane Katrina or when we have a Hurricane Sandy, the food stamp rolls go up, and when there are jobs, the food stamp rolls go down. It ain't broke, you all, so let's not try to fix it. I am very, very disturbed that when the Budget Committee meets next week, it will try to make structural changes to the SNAP program, to throw it into a reconciliation process where only 51 Members of the Senate have to vote for it, out of this body, in order to change the structure of it so that it is not responsive to people during economic distress. I am concerned about the numbers of people who are going to ask for a waiver to limit the number of benefits, in a 36-month period, that those who are unemployed can receive. People who are unemployed don't have any control over our economy. When unemployment is up, the SNAP program, as it is currently structured, is responsive to unemployment, and we ought to stick to that. Mr. McGOVERN. Mr.…”