Congressman Tim Huelskamp

Dear Friend,

As your Member of Congress for 22 months, I have traveled throughout the First District visiting with Kansans during town hall meetings. Last year, we successfully held a town hall in every one of the 69 counties in the First District, and we are only one county away from having completed the same task in 2012.

This past week I was in Trego, Thomas, and Logan Counties for town halls. Similar to what I have heard at every other town hall in Kansas, people are genuinely concerned about the future of our nation. They are worried about the future for prosperity, and the ability of small business entrepreneurs to create businesses and jobs. They are worried about the massive government debt, and what it means for our children and grandchildren. And, they are worried about an ever-growing federal government that threatens both our pocketbooks and our liberties.

In addition to the town hall meetings this week, I was honored to visit the students and teachers at Wallace County High School in Sharon Springs who produced the "We Are Hungry" video about the new school lunch mandates. It is a privilege to represent these young folks in Congress. They refuse to let a top-down, heavy-handed federal government dictate what should be a day-to-day local decision: what goes on to the cafeteria tray. At a very young age, these students are learning first-hand the consequences of what happens when government becomes too powerful. But, they are also learning about the power of activism, and how an average person can transform a debate and influence public policy. Nearly every major media outlet has covered this issue and in no small part due to their fun and compelling 'We Are Hungry' video. We are inspired by their efforts, and will continue to work toward passing the 'No Hungry Kids Act' in order to get these mandates off the books.

While we were traveling for the town halls and the visit to Sharon Springs, staff took some video of the day's events. We put together "On the Road with Tim" to highlight why we do the town halls, why I require your D.C. staff to travel to Kansas to hear from Kansans, and a few brief snippets of what we discuss at the town hall meetings. Please take a few minutes to watch.

President Obama is STILL the Food Stamp President. 

According to the latest data from the USDA, the number of persons and  households enrolled in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) increased again between June 2012 and July 2012. For the eleventh month in a row, food stamp enrollment remained above 46 million.

Under President Obama's watch, enrollment on food stamps (SNAP) has grown by 46 percent and monthly federal spending has skyrocketed by 72 percent. This is no accomplishment for a President who promised that he would have the economy back on track in three years. Instead, it is a testament to the failure of the Obama Economy that the number of people on food stamps continues to grow month after month. Progress should be measured by the extent to which people are less dependent on the government, not by the extent to which Washington has to hand out more borrowed money.

I have introduced legislation to model food stamps after the successful welfare reforms of the 1990s. By putting the states in charge of food stamp dollars -- and requiring work from able-bodied adults -- taxpayers will be able to hold accountable both the government officials who administer the food stamp programs and the millions of recipients. With recent revelations of fraud and abuse, there is room to transform and target SNAP without taking a single calorie off the plate of one needy person. With the 2008 Farm Bill now expired and the 2012 Farm Bill unfinished, it would be foolish for Washington to leave food stamp spending untouched when it accounts for 79 percent of the Farm Bill.

Sincerely,

Tim Huelskamp
Member of Congress