House Agriculture Committee Ranking Member David Scott delivered the following statement at today’s full Committee hearing, which was convened for the purpose of receiving testimony from the Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack.
[As prepared for delivery]
Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for holding this hearing today. I always look forward to seeing our distinguished witness, Secretary Vilsack.
As we begin the 2023 Farm Bill in earnest, I know the testimony provided today will educate and guide us.
We will all get a chance to ask you questions about our priorities today. I want to address mine too.
Let me start by addressing recent proposals that would add burdensome work requirements to SNAP. Mr. Secretary, I know you agree with me here.
SNAP already has strict work requirements, and it is a very effective work support program.
Nearly all SNAP recipients who can work, do work. More than two-thirds — 68 percent — of Americans participating in SNAP are children, seniors, or people with disabilities and not expected to work.
And 74 percent of those who are expected to work do so within a year of receiving SNAP.
More requirements will only leave vulnerable populations – like veterans – hungry.
SNAP is also one of the most important and effective tools we have to improve food security and nutrition while also having enormous positive impacts on the economy.
SNAP spending helps to support a robust national economy by returning one dollar and fifty cents for each dollar spent. It also generates thousands of jobs across the country in grocery, transportation, manufacturing, and other industries each year.
Further, SNAP has an outsized economic impact in rural communities.
SNAP spending increases rural economic output by 1.25 percent and rural employment by 1.18 percent annually and has a stronger impact on poverty in rural counties than in non-rural counties.
We must ensure that rural communities experience economic growth too.
The House Democrats will stand united to defeat any proposals to weaken SNAP, as we have in previous Farm Bill years.
Equally important to me is opening agriculture to more people. We must do something to address the loss of 17,000 ranchers each year while ensuring that all farmers, ranchers, and producers of all races, genders, and ethnicities can work our land or support agriculture in their own ways.
I want to call out my bill, recently re-introduced, H.R. 1436 to make permanent the 1890 Scholarships Program I created in the 2018 Farm Bill.
It would also provide $100 million in additional funds for these scholarships.
As a product of an 1890 Land-Grant Institution myself, I know the great value this system can provide to students. I think this is an area we can work together in a bipartisan way in this farm bill.
Let me end by saying that I look forward to working with you Mr. Secretary and with my colleague and friend, the Chairman, Mr. Thompson.
Together we can build a stronger safety net for our famers, our low-income Americans, and we can strengthen our food security and climate.
It’s a tall task, but one that we can accomplish together. I yield back my time.
