Date: 2011-06-14
Speaker: JACKSON LEE (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Chairman. I know this is a very. very tough state of affairs and time frame that we are in. I also know this is a time when America calls upon all of us to stand not for our individual selfish interests but to look at the country as a united team that believes in lifting the boats of all people. I want to thank my friends who have struggled on this committee to deal with the bare necessities of life. of food. That is why I come today. unfortunately. to oppose this legislation. because it does not take into account that without sustenance and nutrition that people die. It is plain and simple. We are not talking about knicknacks or trains. buses. highways. bridges. all very important and job creators. and in fact efforts that the Democrats have made very clear that they are the job creating caucus for the press and push that we have made or are making in America. We have asked our colleagues to join us. But today we talk about feeding people. I rose earlier today to say that it is in the DNA of the 18th Congressional District. because one of my predecessors. Mickey Leland. actually died delivering food to starving people around the world. He thought so much of hunger in America that he organized the Select Committee on Hunger. joined by Tony Hall and Congressman Emerson. and his legacy was that we cannot do without substance. So it makes no sense to cut $3 billion from WIC. a WIC program that indicates that WIC moms are more likely to have initiated breast feeding than lowincome nonWIC moms. Middle- to highincome moms are more likely to have initiated breast feeding than both WIC and lowincome nonWIC. One in five children do not drink water easily. WIC children were more likely to drink juice daily than children not on WIC. Ninetythree percent of children drink milk daily. About onequarter of all children had drunk seven or more sugarsweetened beverages in the previous week. These are without the ability to have nutritious meals. This is in my own State of Texas. which indicates that food does not matter in terms of how wealthy a State may be. So I cant imagine why. as my colleagues have said. we cant find $3 billion from the $10 billion a month that is being spent in Afghanistan and the moneys that have been stolen in Iraq. where we dont even know where it is. It is all about priorities. So I rise today to express great consternation over the cut in WIC and to indicate that WIC is about growing. it is about providing nutrition so that children can think. so that they can be able to be strong leaders. It is to grow children healthy. it is to stop disease. it is to provide the kind of immune system that thwarts disease. In a State like Texas. the 18th Congressional District which I represent has a strong work ethic. I am so proud of them. But they also have a rate of poverty that is frightening. Food insecurity in my district ranks number 32 in the Nation. That means that there are only 31 districts ahead that have that degree of food insecurity. And yet I am going to have to go home and tell them that the priorities of this Congress were something other than feeding children and providing mothers. prenatal and prenatal condition and after birth. the kind of resources to provide for a healthy child. That means my preK little babies will be going to school hungry. That means they will come home to a nondinner. And that means that we as a country have failed in our natural value that we all are created equal with certain inalienable rights of life and liberty and the pursuit of happiness. It is shocking to be able to stand here today and know they are cutting Medicare and Medicaid. and now they add insult to injury that they are cutting food stamps and the WIC program. So I guess our soldiers. who themselves. young soldiers. young families on food stamps. will suffer as well. But the WIC program. that has gotten blamed for everything but what is right. and that is the Women. Infants and Children program provides nutrition for healthy children. and to stand here today to have to look Americans in the face and those in the 18th Congressional District who are 32nd in food insecurity and say that we do not have the money. Mr. Chairman. I am asking my colleagues to go back to the drawing board. Dont put this bill on the floor. Take it off. because you are now handing to the children of this Nation a ticket that says no food at the end. no food at this table. no food.