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VIDEO: In Agriculture Hearing, Pingree Draws Hardline on GOP Threats to SNAP

‘We have plenty to debate, but it should not be whether or not people can put food on the table,’ Pingree said in her remarks

Washington, June 7, 2023

Maine’s First District Congresswoman Chellie Pingree and her Democratic colleagues on the House Agriculture Committee today vehemently defended essential programs like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) under threat from House Republicans in what may be the Committee’s only hearing on Nutrition, the fourth Title of the Farm Bill. 

“The thing that I find really distressing about today is we're talking about making more cuts, more restrictions. Well, when 170,000 Mainers lost SNAP emergency allotments in March, $17 million a month was drained from our state's economy and taken away from hungry families,” said Pingree. “We've already made severe cuts. People are already reeling for what we have done. And now we want to talk about doing more?”

“We’re here today to talk about making more cuts, to making it more restrictive, to making it more difficult. And I can't say it enough. This is the wealthiest country in the world,” Pingree continued. “We have plenty of policy to worry about. We have plenty to debate. But it should not be whether or not people can put food on the table.”

Witnesses at today’s hearing included:

  • Tikki Brown, Assistant Commissioner of Children and Family Services, Minnesota Department of Human Services
  • Dr. Patrick Stover, Director, Texas A&M Institute for Advancing Health Through Agriculture
  • Eric Hodel, Chief Executive Officer, Midwest Food Bank
  • Dawn Royal, Senior Investigator, Wyoming Department of Family Services
  • Dr. Angela Rachidi, Senior Fellow and Rowe Scholar, American Enterprise Institute 

Background:

In Pingree’s district, 23,000 households depend on SNAP benefits each month, while statewide, 145,000 Mainers, including more than 46,000 children, get help from SNAP to put food on their tables. 

Pingree, a longtime farmer and member of both the House Agriculture Committee and the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture, was recently appointed by House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries to the newly established Task Force on Agriculture and Nutrition. Throughout her tenure in Congress, Pingree has strengthened local and regional food systems, supporting farmers and helping more people access locally grown food. She has worked to help give farmers the tools needed to respond to climate change, and reduce food waste in the U.S, co-chairing the bipartisan House Congressional Food Recovery Caucus. She has made fighting to protect food programs like SNAP a priority in the upcoming Farm Bill.

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