Date: 2013-06-20
Speaker: JACKSON LEE (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Speaker. its not often that one is able to come back to the podium as soon as I have. and I thank the gentleman for his courtesy. I started to speak about unfinished business. but first I want to celebrate and acknowledge a day this week that many of us commemorate. In fact. it is moving to become nationally recognized. Its something that is called "Juneteenth." Today is June 20. So yesterday. June 19. was Juneteenth. I didnt get a chance to explain what Juneteenth meant on the floor of the House. and I wanted to do so. In 1865. the captain of a Union army arose and arrived on the shores of Galveston. Texas. to let the then slaves who had not been notified. who had not been freed in 1863. on January 1 when President Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation. finally the Union came to our shores in Texas and let a whole swath of slaves who were still working and toiling unpaid in conditions that were obviously unsatisfactory. because no one should hold slaves. Finally. in 1865. on June 19. those in Texas and places to the west were freed. So it is a day of freedom. When I talk to children about Juneteenth. I say it is living freedom. It is accepting the values of this great Nation that has turned. I hope. forever against the idea of holding others as slaves. And it moved this Nation forward. even in difficulty. with women not being able to vote and African Americans moving from Reconstruction into Jim Crowism and the terrible times of the 1900s and. as well. moving into the time of secondclass citizenship all the way through World War II as President Truman integrated the United States military. But it moved the country to a lust and a desire for freedom and opportunity. So Juneteenth is a day of jubilation. It is a day when families gather together. But it is a very important historic time. It is a historic time. if you will. to be able to. in fact. acknowledge that what has been wrong can be fixed. It wasnt a pleasant time to. in essence. work as a slave. to be held as a slave. to be captured as a slave some 18 months to almost 2 years after the Emancipation Proclamation. I say that because I wanted to explain further why something that had traditionally been bipartisanwe love the farm life for those who have experienced it. those who read about it. Often in my tenure here in the United States Congress. urban Members and rural Members came together to pass a bill that generated not only food for America but food for the world. Let it be very clear that we took pride today to vote "no." because sometimes you have to listen and understand that there are things greater than your own interests. I dont know what reason caused the implementation or the addition of a $20 billion cut to the SNAP program. Who had to be satisfied to put that gigantic. unsympathetic. cruel taking of food from the plates of Americans on the floor? SNAP has no region. it has no racial identity. it has no age identity. It is. frankly. Americans who are in need. Let me share with you some numbers. Households with children receive about 75 percent of all food stamp benefits. That immediately quashes the stereotype that deadbeats get food stamps. Twentythree percent of households include a disabled person. Eighteen percent of households include an elderly person. The food stamp program increases household spending. The increase is greater than would occur with an equal benefit in cash. These people are not asking for cash. Theyre asking for you to allow them to be able to buy decent food so there is nutrition and nourishment. But again. what motivated a $20 billion cut that had never been implemented in an agricultural bill that many of us voted on in a bipartisan manner? Did anybody listen to the chairman of the Federal Reserve? The Chairman of the Federal Reserve said just yesterday that the economy is percolating. that its doing all that it needs to do. that theyre not going to reduce interest rates yet. and theyre monitoring it because jobs are being creatednot enoughbut the economy is finding ways to restore itself. It was good news for some of our college students. finding more jobs than they found last year as a college graduate. So the idea that we need to continue to punish the American people. to wound ourselves because there is something out there called the deficit. this imaginary "continue to undermine the government" standard bearer that everyone wants to usethere is a deficit. but it has been steadily coming down because of the belt tightening. Now we want to go beyond the belt tightening. We want to go beyond the family of four that says. We are not going to go out as much. We arent going to have more cereal than we used to have. No. we are going to tell the family of four. Youre not going to have any cereal. Just wake up in the morning and drink water. Were going to take everything away. and maybe youll have one meal a day. This is absurd. and it is not the American way. Every $5 in new food stamp benefits generates almost twice as much$9.20in total community spending. The economics of SNAP and food support programs benefit everyone by preventing new food deserts from developing. The impact of SNAP funds coming into local and neighborhood grocery stores is more profitable. Well have areas of grocery stores and supermarkets. more jobs for people. SNAP funds going into local food economies also make the cost of food for everyone less expensive. It is clear that the SNAP program is a valuable program. In fact. SNAP is the largest domestic program in the American domestic hunger safety net. The Food and Nutrition Service program supported by SNAP works with State agencies. nutrition educators and neighborhoods. as well as faithbased organizations. to assist those eligible for nutrition assistance. Food and Nutrition Service programs also work with State partners in the retail community to improve program administration and work to ensure the programs integrity. Let me tell you beyond the $20 billion what else occurred. Not only did it involve the $20 billion in the underlying bill. but that wasnt enough. They offered an amendment on the floor to make it an estimated $31 billion in cuts. If that isnt outrageous. I dont know what is. Literally. not only have they taken the food. but theyve taken the table. the utensils. and are leaving you with a goodlooking floor. if thats what you have. or rough floor. to simply go there and admire food. This is an outrageous addition. Cutting off benefits of 2 million Americans extra who struggle to find work. severing the tie between LIHEAP and SNAP. which is the dollars that supplement those who are not able to pay their energy bills in the cold of the winter. how could you? Penalizing those who dont abide by an unnecessary. burdensome job search if you have a disabled child. this is what was on the floor. Not just taking food away. but literally dismantling the table. Oh. that wasnt enough. Then they wanted to do this. This looks like a great idea. As you well know. varying States have different economic positions. Some States are thriving because of the industry they have. A State like Texas has an energybased. oilbased economy. Some States have other kinds of economies. and those economies are coming back. but there are still poor people and people without jobs. And this is what the SNAP program is for. It is not for fraud. waste. and abuse. I dont have any problem with oversight. But how dare you take food away from children. cutting out school lunches. cutting out school breakfasts that sometimes are the difference between a child learning and surviving. But that wasnt enough. Listen to another amendment that was offered and passed on the floor of the House. It makes the SNAP policies. this amendment. even worse than what Ive just discussed. It would allow States to pocket. put in their pocket. smack their lips. roll their hands. the savings if they cut people off of the Supplemental Nutrition program. That means the disabled. parents with young children who dont have child care. those who are unable to find work in the area theyre in because there are no jobs available in that community. And there are census data and census tracts where you cannot find jobs. This amendment would find no funding for job search or job creation to help recipients of the SNAP program find work. and it places no restrictions on what States can use the bonus moneys that they put in their pocket for. Oh. they can throw it for all kinds of unnecessary extras. if you will. Maybe they can do extra security for roaming elected officials. And when I say that. my State is quarreling over whether it should pay security costs for our Governor. Maybe it can throw a few extra parties. Maybe it can build another bridge to nowhere. What will they do when they take moneymoneyout of the mouths of babes into their pocket?