Political Quotes

“I oppose this legislation. Much has been said this morning about how 4 million people will lose the safety net of food stamps. This is going to derail the effort to pass a farm bill, and America needs a farm bill. But, you know, the bottom line is this is a cynical piece of legislation. It is not about work. Sixty-eight percent of the folks on food stamps are women with kids. It's children. It's elderly. It's disabled. That's number one. Number two, how is a person going to get into a nonexistent work program? And work is great. It's not as though either side has a monopoly on the desirability of advocating for work. But when there's no work program that a person who is required to get food stamps can enter into, it means they are without food stamps and are denied the opportunity to work, both. So this is a political statement, not a practical policy that is going to get us to where we need to be. It's going to throw people off food stamps who need it. It creates a cynical, nonexistent work program; and it creates an incentive for States who are going to reap the benefits of lower food stamp rolls, to throw people off even further. {time} 1400”