At Wednesday's Senate Agriculture Committee hearing, Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) questioned Trump Administration nominees about cuts to SNAP.
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00:00Chairman. Thank you. Good morning, gentlemen. So now I know this isn't your purview,
00:11and I'm not going to just go on and go on in a rant, but this is the last opportunity that I
00:16would have to say as a member of this committee that I've been very troubled that now it's very
00:22clear that they are going to try to cut SNAP. For me, it's always been a very passion of mine,
00:28and one of the reasons why I was so excited to be on this committee, and now that vote's coming,
00:35so this is my last opportunity to say that as in a minority situation, we may not have the vote
00:41to prevent those kinds of a thing, but that doesn't mean I could ever support these kinds of cuts.
00:46And Mr. Hoskin, the Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement Program,
00:51LFPA, was successfully doing all of those things to create and promote small local food system
01:01viability. And according to 1,433 farmers in the organizations, including 31 in PA, LFPA generated
01:12$747 million in economic activity in rural communities. And I ask the chair, with unanimous
01:21consent, that their letter be entered into the record.
01:27Without objection.
01:29Okay, thank you. Sir, do you agree that the USDA has the authority to promote market access for small farms?
01:37Well, thank you for the question, Senator, and I appreciated the time and conversation with your
01:46staff in your office the other week. Your staff raised this very issue and a number of other
01:53priorities you're focused on, on behalf of Pennsylvania Agriculture. Yes, I do think AMS,
02:02through congressional codification and different laws, this committee and the Congress has passed,
02:07including the A-Team Farm Bill, has a number of programs and authorities to facilitate local food
02:14purchasing and promotion.
02:16No, and again, yes, I'd also like to be clear, I, I, I actually, I voted for Secretary Rollins. I mean,
02:24for, for me, agriculture, I mean, red, blue, conservative, liberal, everybody eats, and, and we all count on our, our, our agriculture
02:36things. So, so now for me, it's not about politics. It's, it's about feeding people and supporting farming. And that's, that's our
02:42largest industry in my state. And so do you agree that the beneficial for states like mine, to be able to directly address their local food
02:51systems? So thank you for the question, Senator. Um, my, my awareness on, on some of the authorities and programs under the
03:03agricultural marketing service is that this committee in Congress has given that agency purview and mandate to facilitate some of those
03:14some of those programs and purchases and facilitate, um, the resiliency of the local food system. So if, if I'm understanding and I'm not
03:26trying to be evasive, but to be responsive, if I were confirmed, I would commit to ensuring, um, AMS met its congressional mandate under those programs.
03:36Okay. Alright. Yield. Thank you. Thank you very much, uh, Senator Fetterman. And next up?
03:48Senator Moran. Senator Klobucharis.
03:53You
03:54You
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