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Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro is reacting strongly against a decision by the House Agriculture Committee to cut $33 billion over 10 years from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program known as SNAP.
46 million Americans rely on the food stamp program. A majority of them live in households with incomes below the poverty line.
The Agriculture Committee's cuts are expected to die in the Senate but the proposal still angers Democrats like DeLauro. She says Republicans only want to cut from nutrition programs when there are a variety of others that should be reduced.
"They refuse to cut back on any of the subsidies to big oil and gas, They refuse to do anyting about what we provide to multi-national corporations that take jobs overseas."
She says the food stamp cuts will trickle down to other important programs like food banks and pantries. Delauro recalls one particular story of a woman living in her congressional district.
"Her unemployment benefits carry her over the eligibility requirement for food stamps she relies on the CT food bank. She and her family eat one meal a day."
Republicans defend the cuts to SNAP saying eligibility is too loose for the food stamp program. Enrollment has dramatically increased in recent years, nearly two thirds more get monthly benefits since the start of the recession.
