Lujan Grisham Votes to Preserve SNAP for New Mexicans

Statement

Rep. Lujan Grisham (NM-01) submitted the following statement for the record during the House Agriculture Committee markup of a partisan Farm Bill that will never become law and jeopardizes important programs for farmers, ranchers, and working families. If Congress fails to pass a Farm Bill this year, numerous bi-partisan new initiatives will not be signed into law including the Congresswoman's efforts to enact the first broadband grant program in the Farm Bill, expedite the approval of conservation and water management practices, ban lunch shaming, and increase food distribution support in rural and underserved areas. The Committee-passed 2018 Farm Bill made drastic changes to SNAP that undermines food benefits to approximately 461,000 New Mexicans. The Agriculture Committee passed the bill in a party-line vote.

"When I was elected to Congress, I specifically requested a seat on the House Agriculture Committee because of its reputation as the most bipartisan committee in the House.

I knew that I could work in a bi-partisan manner to address critical issues in my home state of New Mexico, including crop insurance, conservation, water management, trade, broadband development, and food insecurity.

I have worked with many of you to create the first ever broadband grant program in the Farm Bill; to expedite the review and approval of new and innovative conservation and water management technologies; and to finally ban the practice of bullying and shaming children from low-income families who cannot afford to pay for their school lunch.

The bipartisan work we have done on broadband development, in particular, has the ability to transform rural America and tribal areas in my state. If my bill is enacted into law it would grow New Mexico's economy, create jobs, boost wages, improve health outcomes, support small business growth, help our students learn, increase crop yields, and so much more.

I want to vote for a Farm Bill that unites Democrats and Republicans, supports both urban and rural communities, benefits farmers, ranchers, and vulnerable Americans across the country, and lastly, honors the productive, bi-partisan work of our Committee that seems to be so rare in Washington, D.C.

This is not that bill, and I cannot vote for a bill that will jeopardize life-saving benefits to countless New Mexicans struggling to make ends meet.

Developing unnecessary, bureaucratic roadblocks in secret that will increase hunger and kick New Mexicans off SNAP is a disgrace to what should be the most bi-partisan Committee in Congress.

Mr. Chairman, my state is one of the hungriest states in the country. Roughly 461,000 New Mexicans (25% of the population) are on SNAP; 1 in 4 NM children do not know where their next meal is coming from; and Last year, SNAP helped keep 76,000 New Mexicans, including 36,000 children, out of poverty.

If this bill's provisions to limit SNAP eligibility and impose strict requirements on beneficiaries were signed into law, more children would go hungry and more families would slip back into poverty.

Further, this bill imposes an underfunded mandate on state bureaucracies to oversee the implementation of the bill's new requirements, which would further destabilize an already disjointed SNAP system in New Mexico.

The current State Administration has illegally denied thousands of individuals SNAP benefits, has no employment and training program, and still runs archaic IT systems.

It is so bad that last year a court had to appoint a "Special Master" to oversee the program and USDA's inspector general is conducting a separate investigation.

In fact, former USDA Undersecretary, Kevin Concannon, testified before this committee that--and I quote--"New Mexico is probably the most fouled up SNAP system in the United States."

Imagine asking that same Department to develop and oversee a new massive SNAP bureaucracy.

At best, it would create barriers that would dramatically increase the length of time that hungry New Mexicans have to wait for their benefits. And at worst, it would improperly kick New Mexicans off nutrition support and create an environment that discourages people from ever applying in the first place.

Either way, New Mexicans would suffer just like Robert Jenkins did when the State illegally terminated his food benefits, even though he was exempt from work requirements due to persistent homelessness and mental health issues.

Mr. Chairman, I ask unanimous consent to place Robert's story into the record along with other New Mexicans, including Ellana Tsethikai--a recent college graduate--and Katie Cornell-Poulter--a single mother struggling to feed her family, all of whom were wrongly kicked off SNAP due to state mismanagement.

I have no doubt that this bill would make the management of SNAP at the Human Services Department worse than even the New Mexico Motor Vehicles Division.

Lastly, my state not only has one of the highest rates of food insecurity in the nation, a failing SNAP state bureaucracy, but we also have the second highest unemployment rate in the country.

There are just simply not enough jobs to go around which is why this bill is such a recipe for disaster.

Mr. Chairman, I want to work with the majority on job placement and training programs for SNAP beneficiaries in the same way that I worked so closely with my colleagues on broadband development, water conservation, and lunch shaming.

Unfortunately, all that work is now jeopardized just as it was the last time the majority pushed a partisan Farm Bill with deep cuts to SNAP in 2013.

That bill failed and this bill will undoubtedly see the same fate.

And when that happens none of our priorities and efforts to solve issues for our constituents get accomplished.

I urge my colleagues to reject the cuts to SNAP that will inevitably take food from the tables of low-income children and families and work with us on passing a bi-partisan Farm Bill that is desperately needed by farmers, ranchers, and vulnerable Americans in every single one of our districts.

I yield back."

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