DELAURO FIGHTS BUDGET CUTS TO NUTRITION, ANTI-HUNGER PROGRAMS
DELAURO FIGHTS BUDGET CUTS TO NUTRITION, ANTI-HUNGER PROGRAMS
Washington, DC – Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (CT-3), Ranking Member on the Labor, Health, and Human Services Appropriations Subcommittee, spoke on the floor of the United States House today in opposition to the Agriculture and FDA Appropriations bill, which includes a 13.4% cut in funding, $2.6 billion below FY2011 levels.
As Prepared for Delivery
I rise in opposition to the underlying bill and the drastic and ill conceived cuts to the nutrition programs proposed in this appropriation. Under the majority's bill, our government cannot meet even its most basic responsibilities to the American people.
For example, the Women, Infants and Children (WIC) Program provides nutrition assistance grants to states for low-income pregnant, breastfeeding and postpartum women, and infants and children up to the age of five. It serves nine millions mothers and young children nationwide, including 58,000 in my state of Connecticut. Nearly half of the babies born in the United States every year participate in this program. It is a short-term intervention that can help provide a lifetime of good nutrition and health behaviors. Over the first 60 days of a child's life alone every $1 invested in WIC saves between $1.77 and $3.13 in health care costs.
But the budget before us today would leave WIC with a $650 million shortfall. According to the Center for Budget Policy and Priorities, that means as many as 350,000 eligible women and children will be cut from the rolls. In fact, Secretary Vilsack has warned our Subcommittee that this number could be as high as 750,000. If you read his letter carefully, there is no carryover, no contingency fund, and in fact there will be substantial reductions in the number of people who will participate in the WIC program.
This is unacceptable at a time of such great economic difficulty. With the unemployment rate over 9 percent, more and more families are having to rely on these dollars. In the past, support for WIC has never been a partisan issue, and for 15 years, Republicans and Democrats have always worked together in Congress to see that every woman and child eligible for WIC can participate in this life-saving program. And in fact, Republicans and Democrats on our Subcommittee voted together to pass an amendment that I offered that would provide $147 million more in funding for WIC. But the Rules Committee arbitrarily overturned that vote today.
We cannot be taking food out of the hungry people's mouths here at home in order to subsidize cotton production and to subsidize Brazilian cotton farmers. It makes no sense. As my colleague Mr. Flake noted at the committee markup, it is quite ironic that we would subsidize Brazilian agriculture so we can continue to excessively subsidize agriculture here. This bill flies in the face of our longstanding bipartisan commitment. It will leave women and children hungry.
And WIC is not alone on the chopping block. The Commodities Supplemental Food Program (CSFP), which provides nutritious food for low-income seniors, those making less than $14,000 a year. According to the study by Feeding America, 30 percent of these households have had to choose between food and medical care, and 35 percent between food and paying for heat or utilities. But even in the middle of a very tough economy, this proposal slashes fund for the CSFP. That means an estimated 150,000 seniors all across the country will lose access to this aid. They, once again, will have to go hungry.
Take the Emergency Food Assistance Program, which works with states to supplement food banks, emergency shelters, pantries, and soup kitchens. The hard work these organizations do in helping ensure access to food is more important than ever right now, In fact, the demand for emergency food assistance has shot up 46 percent over the past five years. This budget cuts funding for the emergency food assistance program by $38 million, nearly a quarter below last year's funding.
And yet while placing this tremendous burden on our most vulnerable citizens, the majority budget finds money to give subsidies to oil companies and tax breaks to the wealthy. In fact, the cost of the Bush tax breaks for millionaires for one week is more than the cost of the proposed cuts to the WIC program for the entire year. One day's tax breaks for the millionaires would pay for the Commodity Supplement Food Program and the Emergency Food Assistance Program.
This is the choice the majority has made. It is tax cuts for millionaires versus nutrition assistance. These are not the right choices for America. The American people know it. Gutting nutrition programs to pay for tax breaks for the rich is more than just a terrible investment in the future. It's a failure of our responsibility to the American people.