Brown in Farm Bill Markup: This Farm Bill Will Sow Seeds of Hardship

Washington, D.C. – Congresswoman Shontel Brown (OH-11) spoke out against the partisan Republican Farm Bill (H.R. 8467) today during the full committee markup. Congresswoman Brown, the Ranking Member on the General Farm Commodities, Risk Management, and Credit Subcommittee, highlighted the negative impact this legislation would have on her constituents in Northeast Ohio and across the country.

The Farm Bill introduced by Agriculture Committee Chairman Thompson includes a $30 billion dollar cut to future SNAP benefits.

According to the USDA and Census Data, 79,993 households in Congresswoman Brown’s district participate in SNAP, 22.6% of the district, the highest percentage in Ohio. Statewide 614,125 Ohio households participate in SNAP.

Congresswoman Brown’s Remarks as Delivered (video here):

Mr. Chairman, I seek recognition to speak about the bill.

Since I joined Congress and became a member of the Agriculture Committee, and eventually serving as a subcommittee Ranking Member, my Democratic colleagues and I have been committed to a bipartisan Farm Bill.

I am disappointed that we sit here today to consider a Farm Bill that has fallen victim to partisan politics.

We are going to consider a bill that takes food away from families, guts farmer-friendly climate investments, ties the hands of the USDA to respond to disasters of all kinds, and so much more.

Plain and simple, this bill is a political prop that is not for farmers or families.

The only message this legislation sends is that my colleagues on the other side of the aisle are not serious about passing a Farm Bill.

The Farm Bill touches every corner of this country and its policies shape how we produce food, protect our natural resources, and address hunger.

We have an opportunity to put forth meaningful legislation that impacts the lives of millions of people and generations to come.

But after months of work, my Republican colleagues turned their backs and moved forward with a bill that picks winners and losers, cuts funding for conservation incentive programs, and takes away food from individuals who have fallen on hard times.

Now, in an almost 1,000-page bill, there are bound to be things that both parties can agree on.

Elements and crumbs of bipartisanship sprinkled throughout.

I guess it should be encouraging to know that we are not so far gone as a Committee that we can’t agree on anything in a bill this large.

However, as we discuss this legislation today, we cannot lose sight of the larger context: that this bill cuts SNAP benefits for hungry families by billions. Plain and simple.

This Farm Bill, if passed would sow the seeds of hardships for generations to come, from farm to table.

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