{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://figures.house.gov/media/press-releases/figures-speaks-house-floor-urge-republicans-not-cut-snap-and-medicaid", "Figures Speaks on House Floor to Urge Republicans Not to Cut SNAP and Medicaid", "2025-06-24", "2025", "2025-06", "Democrat", "House", "AL", "Shomari Figures", "F000481", "figures.house.gov", "figures", "https://figures.house.gov/media", "scraper", "WASHINGTON \u2013 Today, Rep. Shomari C. Figures (AL-02) spoke on the House Floor to oppose the Republicans\u2019 plan to significantly cut Medicaid and SNAP benefits for millions of Americans, including people who live in Alabama\u2019s 2nd Congressional District.\n\nWatch Rep. Figures\u2019 floor statement on YouTube.\n\nBelow are Rep. Figures\u2019 remarks, as prepared for delivery:\n\nThank you. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to speak to the critical importance of both SNAP and Medicaid\u2014not just in Alabama\u2019s 2nd District, but in every congressional district across this country.\n\nWhen I took this position, like all of my colleagues, I took an oath. Not just to this position, but I took an oath to the people that I represent to not forget where I come from. I took an oath to places like Mobile, and Montgomery, and Phenix City, and Evergreen, and Greenville. I took an oath to the neighborhood I grew up in, Toulminville, to not forget the type of districts that we come from.\n\nTo me what that district looks like is about 1 in 4 households rely on SNAP benefits. Over 200,000 people\u2014almost a third of the population in the state of Alabama\u2014are enrolled in Medicaid.\n\nThe individual median income in my district is just about $31,000 a year. I come from a district that is not the wealthiest, not even close to the wealthiest or well-off in this country.\n\nSo these aren\u2019t just statistics. These are real people that I see when I go home to my district. These are children, these are seniors, these are working parents, and people with disabilities, these are neighbors, these are people who I grew up in church with, these are people who I went to school with who depend on these programs to survive.\n\nNot because they want to, but because they have to.\n\nAnd cutting these benefits would force impossible choices among some of these people between food, medicine, utilities--between housing, and overall stability.\n\nIt wouldn\u2019t reduce the need because the need would still be there. The hunger would still be there. The poverty would still be there. It would just shift the cost onto our hospitals, to our schools, and to emergency services.\n\nIn Alabama, SNAP does more than just provide food for people. It also supports\u2014as it does across this country\u2014it supports our local grocers, our local grocery stores. All of the statistics show us that SNAP is a net-positive return on the local economy.\n\nAnd so we have to recognize that Medicaid keeps working families healthy\u201461% of Medicaid recipients in the state of Alabama are working. The majority of the remainder are either children or people with disabilities.\n\nThese programs are not luxuries, but they are lifelines that people need to get by.\n\nSo let\u2019s stop pretending that these are just numbers in a budget and that these are not real people.\n\nProtecting SNAP and Medicaid is not about politics. We are not in a position where we can\u2019t afford it. We are spending almost $4 million on every trip that Donald Trump takes to Mar-a-Lago.\n\nIt\u2019s not a question of resources. It\u2019s a question of priorities.\n\nAnd with that, I yield back Mr. Speaker.\n\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-07T01:08:28Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://figures.house.gov/media/press-releases/figures-speaks-house-floor-urge-republicans-not-cut-snap-and-medicaid"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.8487049490213394, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}