Press Releases

At today’s House Agriculture Nutrition Subcommittee hearing, Ranking Member Jim McGovern (D-MA), a leading champion of policies to fight hunger, called out Speaker Paul Ryan for his dangerous plan to shift the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) to a block grant system.

Today’s hearing, entitled “Past, Present and Future of SNAP: Addressing Special Populations” is the 10th in a long series of hearings focused on SNAP. Speaker Ryan highlighted his plan last weekend at a GOP poverty forum he hosted in South Carolina.

“This is the 10th hearing on SNAP. And some have wondered – ‘to what end?’ Well, Speaker Ryan and Republican presidential candidates gave us the answer last Saturday at their so-called forum on poverty in South Carolina. And I have to say, I’m deeply troubled. We’ve known for a long-time that Speaker Ryan supports block granting SNAP. We’ve seen it year after year in his budgets. But, if that’s where all of this is going – that’s bad news for poor people. 

“Proposals like Speaker Ryan’s to block grant SNAP would decimate one of the key features of the program – its ability to quickly respond to an economic downturn. That when the breadwinner in a household loses his or her job, a family can quickly access SNAP to keep food on the table while they get back on their feet.

“After this last recession, there’s good data emerging showing that SNAP worked as it was supposed to and expanded to help more of the families who needed it. And now that our economy is recovering, SNAP caseloads are declining and will continue to decline. Simply put, SNAP is working.

“The reality is that block granting SNAP would be catastrophic for the program. Funding would be capped and states would either have to reduce the benefit – which we know from these hearings is already inadequate – or cut people off. Either way, it would make hunger worse. And we know from what happened with TANF that states wouldn’t have to use their SNAP block grant funding to actually feed people. States could use that money for just about whatever they chose.

“We shouldn’t change the entitlement structure of SNAP. Block granting SNAP is a bad idea. Period. It would make hunger worse in this country and I urge my colleagues to think twice about going down the dangerous road of block grants.”

The Full Text of Today’s Opening Statement is Below:

As Prepared For Delivery

“Thank you to Chairwoman Walorski for holding today’s hearing and thank you to the witnesses for being here with us. I’ve worked with many of your organizations before and I look forward to your testimony.

“This is the 10th hearing on SNAP. And some have wondered – “to what end”? Well, Speaker Ryan and Republican presidential candidates gave us the answer last Saturday at their so-called forum on poverty in South Carolina. And I have to say, I’m deeply troubled. We’ve known for a long-time that Speaker Ryan supports block granting SNAP. We’ve seen it year after year in his budgets. But, if that’s where all of this is going – that’s bad news for poor people. 

“Proposals like Speaker Ryan’s to block grant SNAP would decimate one of the key features of the program – its ability to quickly respond to an economic downturn. That when the breadwinner in a household loses his or her job, a family can quickly access SNAP to keep food on the table while they get back on their feet.

“After this last recession, there’s good data emerging showing that SNAP worked as it was supposed to and expanded to help more of the families who needed it. And now that our economy is recovering, SNAP caseloads are declining and will continue to decline. Simply put, SNAP is working.

“The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, or TANF, on the other hand, which was converted into a block grant in the nineties, barely responded at all to the recession. In fact, we’re seeing states shift TANF funds away from core anti-poverty purposes and instead using these funds to plug holes in other areas of their state budgets, leaving vulnerable families out of luck.

“The reality is that block granting SNAP would be catastrophic for the program. Funding would be capped and states would either have to reduce the benefit – which we know from these hearings is already inadequate – or cut people off. Either way, it would make hunger worse. And we know from what happened with TANF that states wouldn’t have to use their SNAP block grant funding to actually feed people. States could use that money for just about whatever they chose.

“We shouldn’t change the entitlement structure of SNAP. Block granting SNAP is a bad idea. Period. It would make hunger worse in this country and I urge my colleagues to think twice about going down the dangerous road of block grants.

“Now, in terms of today’s hearing, I see that the title is “Past, Present, and Future of SNAP: Addressing Special Populations.” Today’s witnesses are among the most distinguished experts on senior and veteran hunger. But I think we are only scratching the surface on special populations receiving SNAP. We should also be talking about the disabled, Native Americans, ex-offenders and ABAWDs – Able Bodied Adults Without Dependents. These are all groups that have unique and often complicated circumstances and we should be focused on making sure they have access to adequate food benefits. I hope these populations will be the focus of future hearings.”

###