DeLauro Statement on USDA’s Rule Kicking People Off SNAP

WASHINGTON, DC – (November 4, 2019) Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (CT-03) today released the following statement after the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) issued its final rule to restrict hundreds of thousands of Americans' access to SNAP—America's leading anti-hunger program.

"The Trump administration is cutting off a vital lifeline by rigging SNAP against the very people who the program was created to help. People who are food insecure deserve access to food, not further stigmatization. The USDA's own data continues to show that the vast majority of SNAP recipients who can work do. Make no mistake: this rule will weaken our country's safety net by taking away food from hundreds of thousands of people."

"The Trump Administration is shamelessly picking up where House Republicans left off because they could not get this passed in Congress in the 2018 farm bill. Instead of listening to the will of the American people, Secretary Purdue has decided to jam through a regulation that punishes people for being poor. That is unconscionable."

Earlier this year, DeLauro led more than 100 House Democrats urging Secretary Perdue to withdraw the proposed rule. DeLauro is a senior Democrat on the Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee.

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