House Republicans Push Through Farm Bill, Without Food Stamps

[alp227]

Last edited Thu Jul 11, 2013, 09:21 PM - Edit history (2)

Source: New York Times

Republicans muscled a pared-back agriculture bill through the House on Thursday, stripping out the food stamp program to satisfy recalcitrant conservatives but losing what little Democratic support the bill had when it failed last month. It was the first time food stamps had not been a part of the farm bill since 1973.

The 216-to-208 vote saved House Republican leaders from an embarrassing reprisal of the unexpected defeat of a broader version of the bill in June, but the future of agriculture policy remains uncertain. The food stamp program, formally called the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, was 80 percent of the original bill’s cost, and it remains the centerpiece of the Senate’s bipartisan farm bill.

Even in a chamber used to acrimony, Thursday’s debate in the House was particularly brutal. Democrats repeatedly called for roll-call votes on parliamentary procedures and motions to adjourn, delaying the final vote by hours and charging Republicans over and over again with callousness and cruelty.

Republicans shouted protests, trying to silence the most strident Democrats, and were repeatedly forced to vote to uphold their own parliamentary rulings.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/12/us/politics/house-bill-would-split-farm-and-food-stamp-programs.html?pagewanted=all

---

Enjoy 2014, right wing rat bastards.

The people had better get out there in FULL FORCE all the way til November 4, 2014. Flood the phone lines and town hall meetings.

SHAME. SHAME. SHAME.

The roll call: http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2013/roll353.xml

[Deep13]

1. V E T O

not that it would pass the senate anyway

[Iliyah]

2. Not gonna pass the senate

senate will kick it back with the snap attached, but hopefully w/o any cuts. The the way it is now, snap can be compete ly disband leaving millions to starve. How Christian of you house gop.

[BornLooser]

3. Classless Hubris...over, & over...

This is D.O.A.

[MADem]

4. House Dems....charging Republicans over and over again with callousness and cruelty.

And that's putting it KINDLY!

[madrchsod]

5. so they cut the snap program.... guess what?

that`s less money for the farmers and the food processors! every penny of snap is returned directly or indirectly to the farmer and processors.


only a republican could see what they did as a victory.

[starroute]

7. If I understand correctly, this wouldn't actually eliminate food stamps

Without specific legislation, those would keep going as they are now. What it does do is separate them out from the rest of the farm bill, making it easier to kill them later.

Farm legislation has always represented a balance of interests -- the GOP gets price supports for their rural voters, the Democrats get food stamps for their urban constituents, and everybody is happy. Splitting the two and passing the rural part on its own would deprive the Democrats of any leverage.

I could be wrong -- most of the coverage doesn't make the real issue very clear -- but I think that's how it works.

[tex-wyo-dem]

14. Not just farmers and food processors benefit, but...

The whole economy. I forget which group released the study, but they found that the single most effective government program for stimulating the economy was food stamps, because nearly every cent of the program went directly back into the economy. This is completely aside from fact that it is just the right and moral thing to do.

The rethugs really know how to shoot themselves in the head while pissing on everyone else.

[iamthebandfanman]

6. more wasted tax payers money

voting on a bill they know will go nowhere...

I wonder how much in total, just from voting, tax money has been wasted on their meaningless votes and ideological grand standing?

[another_liberal]

8. Unbelievable!

Leaving aside for a moment the inhumanity of what they are trying to do, don't they realize that people will go hungry for only so long before they turn to crime en-mass? Are all of these bastards heavily invested in the for-profit prison industry? I would not be a bit surprised.

The real joke may be on them, however, because the same poor, White Americans who vote for their stupid asses are the ones who receive the majority of food stamps in this country. I can't wait to see how that plays out for them.

[DWinNJ]

9. They should allow the bill to become law

because we know we can trust the republicans to pass the food stamp bill at a later time.

[kelliekat44]

10. Just another nail!! nt

[Cha]

11. thanks alp

[blkmusclmachine]

12. The GOPee has no shame.

They're a pack of raving lunatics. And these are the people Obama always backs down to. Ugh!

[wordpix]

13. 5.1 billion pounds of pesticides used each yr. in US---any Congressmen dealing with THAT?

No? I didn't think so.

http://www.epa.gov/pesticides/factsheets/securty.htm

snip: Approximately 5.1 billion pounds of pesticides are used each year in the United States. EPA has registered new, safer products to replace older, more traditional pesticides on the farm, as well as in the backyard. A challenge for EPA is to ensure that pest control and pesticide use become increasingly safer each year.

Pesticide ingredients here:

http://npic.orst.edu/ingred/specchem.html