McGovern: New SNAP rule literally takes food off tables

Congressman James P. McGovern (D-MA), Chairman of the House Rules Committee and a leading national voice for ending hunger in America, issued this statement following an announcement that the United States Department of Agriculture will further restrict SNAP eligibility for Able-Bodied Adults Without Dependents (ABAWDS):

“As Americans gathered to sit with family and friends to share a Thanksgiving meal last week, the Trump Administration was hard at work on a rule that will literally take food off the tables of vulnerable Americans who are already struggling to get by. President Trump and those who wrote this rule ought to be ashamed of themselves.

“Despite what the USDA says, this has nothing to do with moving Americans towards self-sufficiency. I’ve sat through a lot of hearings, and I’ve never heard anyone tell me that being hungry made it easier for them to find a job. The fact is that ABAWDs are a complicated group of people on which we have little data—what we do know is that many in this group are veterans who are returning from service, while many others are workers who aren’t given 20 hours of work per week—yet USDA has done no research on how this new rule will impact these vulnerable Americans. The Trump Administration ought to know more about this population before they literally take food off their table.

“What’s worse is that Democrats and Republicans came together earlier this year to reject the very cuts that the Administration is proposing. That’s why the rules package I introduced which passed the House at the beginning of this Congress directs the House Office of General Counsel to explore all possible legal options for responding to this reckless rule.

“This is an end run around Congress, and it’s a new low, even for this president. We will fight tooth and nail to stop this administration’s war on the poor, and I will do everything in my power to protect vulnerable families in Massachusetts from this cruel rule.”