David Obey: “Mr. Chairman, 2 years ago, when the majority party tried to cut the School Lunch Program, this Congress and the Nation…”

“Mr. Chairman, 2 years ago, when the majority party tried to cut the School Lunch Program, this Congress and the Nation finally rejected that. Last year, they tried to cut the WIC Program, the feeding program for women, children, and infants. The country rejected that. Now we are back with this bill, and this bill is $30 million short of the amount that is apparently required in order to prevent 55,000 women and children from being knocked off the program. At the same time, this Congress is being asked to approve a tax cut which will provide, on average, a $27,000 tax cut to the richest 1 percent of people in this country. I think that is unconscionable. The bill itself is $180 million below the President's budget for the WIC Program. The amendment that I am offering today simply does not even restore the President's request. We simply try to restore $27 million so that we assure that no person is knocked off the program in the coming fiscal year. Now how do we pay for it? We pay for it simply by eliminating $36 million, which has been put in this bill above the President's budget to pay for subsidies for commissions for insurance agents who write crop insurance.”