{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["http://clyburn.house.gov/press-release/clyburn-statement-republican-plan-gut-snap-benefits", "Clyburn Statement On Republican Plan To Gut SNAP Benefits", "2013-09-19", "2013", "2013-09", "Democrat", "House", "SC", "James Clyburn", "C000537", "clyburn.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "WASHINGTON -- \u00a0U.S. House Assistant Democratic Leader James E. Clyburn took to the floor of the House today to offer strong opposition to Republican plans to strip $40 billion from nutrition assistance programs.\u00a0 Here are his remarks as prepared for delivery:\nI rise today in opposition to H.R. 3102, the latest attempt by the Republican Majority to add more insults to the injuries that have been inflicted upon many working families, making their lives much more difficult.\nIt has become clear to me that some of my colleagues on the other side either don\u2019t believe or don\u2019t care that their preferred policies would make the poor poorer and the hungry hungrier.\u00a0 They seem unmoved by the arguments of many, including former Senate Majority Leader and Republican presidential nominee Bob Dole, that this bill would make it more difficult for millions of Americans to feed themselves and their families.\nFor the last half century, the Farm Bill has always included both agriculture subsidies and nutrition assistance, a combination that makes a lot of sense.\u00a0 Every time that EBT card is swiped, farmers \u2013 large and small \u2013 grocers - national and local; and banks \u2013 Wall Street and Main Street, benefit.\u00a0\nFor American farmers and the agribusiness industry to succeed, they need consumers to eat the food they produce.\u00a0 In that sense, nutrition assistance is just another kind of agriculture subsidy that just happens to have the added benefit of ensuring that all Americans have enough to eat.\u00a0\nWith the comprehensive nature of past farm bills, it is no surprise that 532 agriculture, conservation, rural development, finance, energy, and crop insurance groups oppose the Republican Leadership\u2019s cynical ploy to separate nutrition assistance from the rest of the Farm Bill.\u00a0\nWe talk about how SNAP benefits go to individuals, but if the truth be told the real beneficiaries are local communities and enterprises.\u00a0 My Republican colleagues claim to be big supporters of small businesses.\u00a0 But you can\u2019t support small businesses if you don\u2019t support their customers.\u00a0\nThis ill-advised legislation would also hurt businesses that have nothing to do with food.\u00a0\nIn my district, the average household income among SNAP recipients is less than $15,000.\u00a0 If these low-income people lose access to nutrition assistance, money that they would otherwise spend on other needs would be spent instead on food, taking customers away from other businesses that are vital to our economic vitality.\u00a0 An analysis by the Department of Agriculture of similar SNAP cuts last year found that more than 50,000 jobs would be affected.\u00a0\nSNAP funding is crucial to our economy because those dollars go directly into the local economy.\u00a0\nMoody\u2019s Analytics\u2014no liberal think tank\u2014has estimated that $1 spent on SNAP generates $1.70 in economic activity.\u00a0 That means that this bill, with $40 billion in cuts, would cut economic output by $68 billion.\u00a0\nI recognize that there are legitimate philosophical differences between the two parties on the role of the federal government.\nMy Republican colleagues and I might differ on how to grow the economy, but at the very least, we should be able to agree that we can\u2019t grow the economy by shrinking it.", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "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": ["http://clyburn.house.gov/press-release/clyburn-statement-republican-plan-gut-snap-benefits"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.7144319824874401, "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"}