ORANGE — Congressman Jim McGovern says he is living the dream — keeping in mind that nightmares count as dreams.
Speaking to roughly 50 people at the North Quabbin Community Coalition’s September forum on Friday, the Democrat representing the 2nd Congressional District of Massachusetts was referring to his work in Washington, D.C., in the toxic political climate that plagues the nation’s capital. McGovern has long championed for widespread access to nutritious food and he said the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and others aimed at combating hunger are always the first on the chopping block when politicians start talking about spending cuts.
“I serve on the (House) Agriculture Committee, among other committees. I’m on that committee because I care deeply not only about our farmers, which I do, but also about our food nutrition program. I think everybody in this country ought to have enough to eat,” he said inside the Athol-Orange Elks lodge at 92 New Athol Road. “I think food should be viewed as a right for everybody, and I’m concerned because the budget that the (Republican) majority has released looks for cutting SNAP by $160 billion. Now, I don’t know how you do that without hurting a lot of people. The average SNAP benefit … is about $1.40 per person per meal. You can’t buy a cup of coffee with that. That’s why our food banks and our food pantries as the month goes on are increasingly visited by SNAP recipients.”
The congressman, who at one point entered the center of a circle of seated attendees to address everyone as a whole, said most people on SNAP who have the ability to work do just that.
“People are working and earning a wage that’s not a livable wage,” he said. “The last place we should be looking for savings or cuts is in programs like that.”
McGovern, whose chair was next to that of State Rep. Susannah Whipps, also spoke about the opioid crisis that has swept the country. He said politicians from both major parties talk a good game but money to help tackle the problem is often little and far between. McGovern said President Donald J. Trump declared the crisis a national emergency but communities aren’t getting any help in the fight.
Brian Gordon, the program supervisor for the Dana Day Treatment Center at The Quabbin Retreat in Petersham, also visited the September forum and spoke about what the Retreat has to offer. He touted its intensive outpatient program, which provides dual diagnosis of mental illness and substance abuse disorders. He said help with smoking cessation is available.
Annie Parkinson, the regional coordinator for the Massachusetts Organization for Addiction Recovery, choked back tears when she told McGovern the opioid crisis is stealing lives, and the congressman said many of his colleagues are “not putting their money where their rhetoric is.”
Community member Lucinda Brown told McGovern he is representing her “the way I want to be represented.” She then asked what she and others can do to help the national conversation. McGovern encouraged everyone present to reach out to their friends in other states and persuade them to contact their elected officials to convey the same message.
McGovern also voiced his support for Meals on Wheels, which he said is about so much more than food. He said the deliveries also serve as social contact and even welfare checks for the mostly elderly clients.
A woman asked McGovern what he saw for the future of the Democratic Party, and the congressman said the party is diverse, ranging from Bernie Sanders, a democratic socialist who ran for president as a Democrat, to Joe Manchin (D-WV), who supported Trump’s decision to withdraw from the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement and voted to confirm most of Trump’s cabinet nominees. McGovern said he, as a liberal Democrat, would probably never win an election in West Virginia.
“I couldn’t, either,” chimed in Whipps, formerly a Republican who this year became an independent.
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