DeLauro Condemns Trump’s Cruel Budget Cuts to Hunger Prevention Program

WASHINGTON, DC (February 14, 2018) — Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (CT-03) today released the following statement condemning President Trump's proposed budget cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.

"Among the many heartless cuts in President Trump's budget, the massive cut to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)—more commonly known as food stamps— is particularly cruel. President Trump has proposed more than $213 billion in cuts to SNAP, our nation's frontline hunger prevention program. Slashing SNAP would put our most vulnerable citizens at great risk. In 2016 alone, SNAP kept more than 44 million Americans from going hungry, including nearly 35,000 families in Connecticut's Third District."

"One part of this massive cut to SNAP involves the Administration's widely-reported Food Box proposal. The idea that half of SNAP recipients' benefits would be turned into a completely untested and unverified program is outrageous. These boxes would deny people utilizing SNAP their right to make healthy choices for their families. This Administration and Congressional Republicans just passed a massive tax cut for the wealthiest Americans, who I am sure are not eating from a box."

"The Food Box proposal is simply another chapter in the Trump Administration's crusade to dehumanize the vulnerable. The reality is this proposal masks a massive cut to a program that keeps people from going hungry. More than that, the Food Box proposal is a red-herring—a distraction from the more important assaults facing the SNAP program, such as USDA Secretary Purdue's pursuit to impose onerous work requirements on SNAP recipients, the vast majority of whom already work if they can. I for one will not allow President Trump and his Administration to shame and stigmatize our most vulnerable citizens, and I will fight every single day to make sure these cuts never become a reality."

DeLauro is the senior Democrat on the Appropriations Subcommittee responsible for funding the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA).