WASHINGTON, DC-- Congresswoman Marcia L. Fudge (OH-11) will be speaking on the floor today in opposition to harmful cuts, within the Agriculture Appropriations bill, to funding for WIC (Women, Infants, and Children), SNAP (food stamps), and TEFAP (The Emergency Food Assistance Program), making it more difficult for children, pregnant women, and infants to receive food during a time of need. Tune in to CSPAN at approximately 3:30pm or view the video on our youtube page. See below text from the floor speech.

VIEW VIDEO FROM SPEECH HERE

"A mother's greatest fear is not being able to provide food, and security for her children. Not being able to provide nourishment for her kids to grow, and learn. She worries about where she will find their next meal.  Each morning, she is greeted by growling stomachs, and an all too familiar sense of anxiety. This mother is desperate to provide food for her hungry children and depends on the local food bank. But when she arrives, she's greeted by empty shelves, and then it's fear that fills her stomach.

Some might think I'm exaggerating, but come visit Cleveland and parts of my district, and you can meet people for whom this IS reality. Just as it is reality for people throughout our nation, who rely on essential nutrition programs, like TEFAP, WIC and SNAP.

The Emergency Food Assistance Program, TEFAP, provides food to low-income Americans in need ofshort-term hunger relief through food banks. This bill caps TEFAP funding at $200 million, a $51 million cut, in addition to $12 million dollars in cuts from TEFAP storage and distribution. These cuts affect the storage of food that requires refrigeration, forcing some food banks to only provide unhealthy, non-perishable foods.

25% of food distributed at Cleveland food banks is from TEFAP, and it is some of the most nutritious food available. Even without the proposed cuts to TEFAP, food banks are facing a shortage of food, impairing their ability to provide for the community. Parents turn to food banks to feed their children during the summer, when school ends and no breakfast or lunch is provided. Also on the chopping block is funding for WIC and SNAP. Nearly 50% of the babies born in our country each year rely on WIC.

Proposed cuts to SNAP and WIC would result in hundreds of thousands of low-income women, infants, and children losing needed nutrition assistance. These massive cuts to WIC could force vulnerable families to go hungry, or be completely dependent on food banks, which unfortunately are also losing vital funding. 

WIC provides food to 8.9 million low-income pregnant and nursing women, and young children.  This bill cuts WIC by $833 million and it's estimated that, because of these cuts, between 350,000 and 475,000 mothers and young children will be eliminated from the program.

Why not get rid of tax breaks for millionaires and billionaires for one week, we could pay for the entire WIC program for a year. These cuts will cripple families and could have a detrimental effect on the future of these children.  A quarter of the people in my district have difficulty accessing affordable food.

Chairman Hal Rogers made this statement about the bill: “This legislation reflects hard decisions to cut lower priority programs...so that our nation continues on the path to fiscal recovery.” To a hungry child, SNAP and WIC are NOT low priority programs. These cuts will NOT set our nation on a path to recovery, but rather make it significantly more difficult for mothers to ensure the safety and health of their children.

First Republicans came after seniors who rely on Medicare, and now they’re coming after children and mothers who rely on food assistance. Who's next?"

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