Corrupt House Agriculture Committee Slashes Food Stamps Unmercifully-- With Help From Ann Kuster

Last year, the Blue Dogs only managed to elect one mangy freshman, homophobic conservative Texas state Rep. Pete Gallego. Obama beat McCain in his district (TX-23) 50-49% in 2008 and Romney beat Obama this last time, 51-48%. Gallego managed to edge weak GOP freshman Francisco "Quico" Canseco 96,477 (50%) to 87,255 (46%), after beating Ciro Rodriguez in a primary runoff in this heavily Hispanic district that hugs the Rio Grande border with Mexico from just north of Laredo to just south of El Paso.

Thursday morning I wasn't surprised to see Gallego tweeting away how on Wednesday night he had voted in the House Agriculture Committee-- long, one of the bastions of Blue Dog corporate corruption-- for a $940 billion bipartisan new Farm Bill. I rolled my eyes and wondered how bad it would be. It was bad and cuts nearly two million poor people off food stamps, a top GOP priority that Blue Dogs tend to support.

The bill would cut the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly known as the Food Stamp Program) by almost $21 billion over the next decade, eliminating food assistance to nearly 2 million low-income people, mostly working families with children and senior citizens.  The bill as a whole would reduce total farm bill spending by an estimated $39.7 billion over ten years, so more than half of its cuts come from SNAP.  The SNAP cuts are more than $4 billion larger than those included in last year’s House Agriculture Committee bill.

The bill’s SNAP cuts would come on top of an across-the-board reduction in benefits that every SNAP recipient will experience starting November 1, 2013.  On that date, the increase in SNAP benefits established by the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act (ARRA) will end, resulting in a loss of approximately $25 in monthly SNAP benefits for a family of four.  Placing the SNAP cuts in this farm bill on top of the benefit cuts that will take effect in November is likely to put substantial numbers of poor families at risk of food insecurity.

The majority of the bill’s SNAP cuts come from eliminating a state option known as “categorical eligibility.”  Congress created this option in the 1996 welfare law, allowing states to provide food assistance to households-- primarily low-income working families and seniors-- that have gross incomes or assets modestly above federal SNAP limits but disposable incomes in most cases below the poverty line.  The bill also would eliminate SNAP incentive payments to states that have improved payment accuracy and service delivery, would cut nutrition education funding, and would curtail a state option that reduces paperwork for many households with utility expenses and also lowers state administrative costs...

The proposed cuts would cause significant hardship to several million low-income households.

Jim McGovern (D-MA) introduced an amendment to protect the food stamps funding but it was defeated 27-17, after Juan Vargas (D-CA), embarrassed Republican hypocrites by quoting the Book of Matthew in opposing them: "When I was hungry you gave me food. When I was thirsty, you gave me drink." Watch the an especially telling part of the debate from delusional right-wing psychopath Steve King (R-IA):



The two highest ranking Democrats on the Committee, Blue Dog scum Collin Peterson (MN) and Mike McIntyre (NC) plus millionaire New Dem Sean Patrick Maloney (NY)-- each of whom are on Steve Israel's Frontline list to receive millions of dollars from the DCCC next year-- voted with the GOP, not just for the overall bill, but against McGovern's amendment. The Agriculture Committee is a stinking cesspool of corruption and an institutional organ of shillery for corporate agribusiness. That they passed a wretched bill doesn't surprise me in the least. With just a precious few exceptions who try to protect family farms and consumers-- basically Marcia Fudge, Jim McGovern, Joe Courtney, Richard Nolan and John Garamendi, the committee is all about crooks who want to line their pockets. “In this Congress," Garamendi told his California constituents, "when push comes to shove, it’s the voiceless that get shoved the most. We’re seeing that in the sequester with the immediate harm befalling Head Start, Meals-on-Wheels, and housing assistance, and we’re now seeing it with steep cuts to SNAP in the Farm Bill. SNAP puts food on the table for homebound seniors, for kids who would otherwise go to bed hungry, and for hardworking Americans barely making it. I wish it were a little more kind to the people who need help the most and I will work with my colleagues on the Committee to find a way to ensure the final bill does just that. In a country where 16 million children don’t have enough food to eat, we can and must do better.”

The 8 Democrats who voted NO on the final bill were David Scott (GA), Marcia Fudge (OH), Jim McGovern (MA), Gloria Negrete McLeod (CA), Filemon Vela (TX), Michelle Lujan Grisham (NM), Juan Vargas (CA) and Joe Courtney (CT). I was disappointed, though hardly surprised, to see Ann Kuster (NH), once again on the Dark Side, selling out the progressives who helped win her her seat. Kuster's callous and disgusting attitude went out in a cheery press release about how great she is yesterday:

“Last night’s vote was an important step forward for farmers, consumers, and rural communities in New Hampshire and across our country. For too long, Congress has kicked the can down the road and failed to provide long-term authorization for vital agricultural, nutrition, and conservation programs. Our government’s failure to pass a Farm Bill last year added uncertainty to our economy, inhibiting investments in job creation, research, and rural infrastructure.

“Republicans and Democrats owe it to the American people to break the gridlock and find common ground, which is why I supported this bill-- despite its deep cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. I am gravely disappointed that this legislation undermines assistance for hungry families, and I fought hard to protect this essential program. At the same time, this Farm Bill contains many important reforms: it eliminates wasteful direct payment subsidies, streamlines more than 100 duplicative programs, and includes both an amendment I sponsored to support rural colleges and an amendment I cosponsored to expand access to local, healthy food.

I sure hope someone primaries her.