The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“TAKING FOOD OUT OF THE MOUTHS OF CHILDREN” mentioning the U.S. Dept of State was published in the House of Representatives section on pages H2972-H2973 on March 9, 1995.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
TAKING FOOD OUT OF THE MOUTHS OF CHILDREN
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the gentleman from Missouri [Mr. Volkmer] is recognized for 5 minutes.
Mr. VOLKMER. Mr. Speaker, we are now at day 65, if my math is right, of 100 days and we are now getting to see toward the final 35 days of that 100 days. And when we look at it we look to see that we are going to have severe reductions in food stamps, school lunches, nutrition aid, the Women, Infants and Children's Program, hearing assistance for the elderly, and all because we have to give a big tax cut for the wealthy. It is not going to deficit reduction, it is not going to balance the budget. It is going to go to the wealthy, and it is going to be coming up from the young kids down here that are hungry and need that nourishment.
When I look at the school lunch program, we contacted our State Department of Education, we contacted the Governor's office, we contacted some of our local school districts, and the analysis of that school lunch program is in. Members do not have to take my word for it. The Governor of Missouri, the school superintendent of Missouri, the experts who operate the school lunch program in Missouri all agree. The majority party, led by Newt Gingrich, is taking food out of the mouths of children by cutting the school lunch program. Even worse, the majority party at the same time is cutting the same children's food stamps. Poor children in this country not only will not get a hot meal in school, but when they get
[[Page H2973]] home there will be less food. In the morning when they wake up there will be less or no food, and when they go to school there will not be any breakfast program at the school for them.
How are they going to learn on empty stomachs, their stomachs growling and turning around and churning because they have not gotten the nutrition that they need?
The majority party, quite simply, does not care if poor children in this country eat or not.
Is the majority party taking this mean-spirited approach in order to reduce the deficit? Oh, no, Mr. Speaker, not to balance the budget, not to reduce the deficit, but to give a tax cut to the wealthy. How callous can you get, taking food from children to give fat cats more money?
{time} 2110
Let us look at it. These young children out here, we have got a man and a wife working part-time, making a little over minimum wage. They are making about $20,000 a year, $19,000, $19,000 a year. They are scraping by. They have got two kids. They are eligible for food stamps. In some ways they are eligible for a reduced price for the school lunch.
But when they pass their bills on welfare reform, they call it, those folks are not going to get anything.
Well, they say, hey, we are going to give you a $500 per child tax cut. That is what we are going to do for you.
But for that couple, folks, and those children, that $500 is zip. It is nothing, because it is not a refundable tax cut. So they do not get a thing.
But what they are doing is, they are saying, those kids, you do not need any help, because your parents are making all of $20,000, you do not need any help.
You know what they say who really needs the money, folks? Who really needs that money? Well, under their tax bill, the man and wife who are making $200,000, $200,000, they are going to get, for those same two kids, they are going to get $1,000; $1,000 is what they are going to get. And they tell you those people making that $200,000 need it. They need it for their kids. But the one making $18,000, $19,000, they do not need anything, they need less. And that is what they are going to get from the majority party.
You know why they say that $200,000 couple needs that money, that thousand dollars for their kids? They need it so they can be the leaders of this country, so they can go to Harvard and Yale and all those other places and they can sock the money away. So if you have ever seen Robin Hood in reverse, just watch the next 35 days, America.
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