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WASHINGTON—Today, Congressman James P. McGovern, Ranking Member of the House Rules Committee, slammed the GOP for lying about SNAP work requirements during the Republican debt crisis negotiations so they can go after food assistance programs that working families rely on.

“Maybe if [Speaker Kevin McCarthy] weren’t so busy giving speeches to Wall Street bankers, he’d know most people on food assistance are children, seniors, or people with disabilities,” said Congressman McGovern on the House Floor. “Maybe if he spoke to an able-bodied adult on food assistance, he’d know they aren’t sitting on the couch because they’re out working—they just make so little they qualify for a measly six-dollar-a-day benefit they use to buy food.

McGovern’s remarks come after McCarthy falsely claimed that able-bodied adults without dependents “sit at home on a couch.” Many publicly available reports show that the majority of abled-bodied adults without dependents who participate in SNAP have a job—and that existing work requirements actually do not help lift people out of poverty.

*WATCH THE SPEECH*

REMARKS AS DELIVERED

Mr. Speaker, I keep hearing from my Republicans friends about “work requirements, work requirements, work requirements.”

Speaker McCarthy said people are getting paid to “sit at home on the couch.”

OK—let’s talk about work requirements. I have good news for my GOP friends. In 1996, you all demanded the work requirements that are still in place today.

Maybe if Speaker McCarthy weren’t so busy auctioning off his used ChapStick for $100,000, he’d know working families in this country are struggling and need help.

Maybe if he weren’t so busy giving speeches to Wall Street bankers, he’d know most people on food assistance are children, seniors, or people with disabilities.

Maybe if he spoke to an able-bodied adult on food assistance, he’d know they aren’t sitting on the couch because they’re out working—they just make so little they qualify for a measly six-dollar-a-day benefit they use to buy food.

Republicans are going after food assistance so they can give another tax break to billionaires. It is a disgrace. It is a shame.

Speaker McCarthy, try living on SNAP for a week before screwing over poor people.

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McGovern has been an anti-hunger champion for decades. He has been a continuous voice speaking up for working families against cuts to food and cash assistance programs. Last September, he successfully rallied nonprofits, corporations, faith leaders, Tribal communities and more to the second-ever White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition and Health. The conference delivered millions of dollars in commitments and an ambitious whole-of-society roadmap to end hunger and reduce diet-related illnesses in America by 2030.