The House Agriculture Committee has approved
an unconscionable farm bill that protects grossly generous subsidies for the
agriculture industry by cutting food stamps by a staggering $16.5 billion over
the next decade.
The cuts — more than triple the $4.5 billion approved
in the Senate — would deny two million to three million people food
assistance of $90 a month per family, end free school meals for 280,000
children and compound recession hardships for the working poor.
House Republicans drove the cuts with
complaints that the food stamp program is swollen with people taking advantage
of overly generous standards. This is a canard — the Congressional Budget
Office has found that nearly 99 percent of food stamp participants live in
poverty.
The committee’s Republican majority attracted
some farm-state Democrats in approving a $969 billion farm bill over 10 years.
They bragged of reining in farm expenditures by $35 billion, but about 45
percent of this savings was taken out of food stamps; indefensible subsidies
bolstering corn, wheat, soybeans and other powerful industry lobbies were
largely spared. If Senate Democrats aim to split the difference in food stamp
cuts, rather than fighting the House, the poor will be seriously hurt.
Speaker John Boehner might not allow a
floor vote because he is reportedly wary of another embarrassing uprising
by Tea Party members demanding even deeper cuts — and presenting cogent
arguments in some cases against wasteful largess for the agriculture industry.
If there is no agreement by Sept. 30, a
short-term extension of the current farm program would be the alternative. That
may not be a good outcome, but it would at least delay cuts to food aid.
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