Mark Pocan: “Thank you so much, Representative Jeffries, for your always eloquent fight on behalf of the working people across the…”

“Thank you so much, Representative Jeffries, for your always eloquent fight on behalf of the working people across the State of New York and the need for the benefits. I am glad you debunked some of the myths that are out there because I remember, during the debate we had on food stamps, there was discussion of a surfer dude from California who talked about gaming the system. We were basically cutting $39 billion from food stamps because there was a surfer who abused the system from the State of California. Rather than governing by analysis, they govern by anecdote, and it is something that we need to get done and this body needs to get done. Let me just share one final story, if I can, of someone from the State of California, again, from The Huffington Post article. This is Ricki Ward of Rancho Cucamonga, California, and I will read from the article. Ward, who told The Huff Post Tuesday that she expects to be evicted next month, said she has worked all her life from paycheck to paycheck and raised two kids as a single mother. For the past 5 years, Ward worked in offices, retail stores, and fast food before being laid off from a customer service job for a cable provider in March 2013. Ward said she suspects she is having difficulty finding work because of her age. ``I took the year that I graduated from high school off of my resume, and I started getting calls,'' Ward said. ``Yet once they saw me, I wasn't what they wanted for their front counter.…”