In the News

By Sabrina Eaton, Plain Dealer Washington Reporter on October 15, 2013 at 9:29 AM, updated October 15, 2013 at 9:50 AM

Rep. Marcia Fudge of Warrensville Heights - who has used her position on the House Agriculture Committee to protect the food stamp program - has been named a Democratic member of a House of Representatives negotiating team that will hammer out a compromise for the farm bill with members of the U.S. Senate.

“When millions of American are struggling to put food on the table, it is long past time for Congress to go to the negotiating table and pass a Farm Bill that will provide much-needed nutrition support for our children, our seniors, and our communities,” House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi said in announcing the Democrats she'd selected for the team.

When the House of Representatives adopted $39 billion in cuts to the food stamp program this September, Fudge noted the reductions were "almost ten times larger than those in the Senate bill and would make any chance at bipartisan agreement on a Farm Bill nearly impossible."

She said the bill's changed eligibility guidelines for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program would deny benefits to an estimated 3.5 million people in 2014, including about 29,000 people in Cuyahoga County and 134,000 Ohioans who are deemed able bodied adults without dependents. “A nation cannot be truly great without a moral compass," Fudge said. "We’ve lost our way if we turn our backs on millions of Americans in need. That’s not who we are. I look forward to working with anyone in Congress on a farm bill that recognizes feeding and farming go hand in hand."

Republican advocates of the cuts described them as common-sense reforms that would close loopholes, encourage and enable work participation, and eliminate waste, fraud and abuse.

"SNAP serves an important purpose to help Americans who are struggling, so it is equally important that we ensure the program is working in the most effective and efficient way," said House Agriculture Committee Chairman Frank Lucas, an Oklahoma Republican who will also serve as a negotiator between the House and Senate. "I look forward to continuing conversations with my House and Senate colleagues as we move toward a farm bill conference."