Feed the rich, starve the poor

Today the House Republicans passed legislation which drops food stamps and other nutrition programs from the farm bill altogether but maintains all manner of subsidies for big Ag producers. I wish I could say I’m surprised by this, but I’m not.

Lawmakers voted 216 to 208 to make changes to federal agricultural policy and conservation programs and end direct subsidy payments to farmers. But the measure says nothing about funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or food stamps, which historically constitutes about 80 percent of the funding in a Farm Bill.

Don’t be fooled by that “end direct subsidy payments to farmers” line; they made up for that loss of income by expanding the crop-insurance program.

This has no chance of getting through the Senate and the White House has already threatened a veto. It’s purely a political bill, passed so Speaker Boehner and his leadership can say “The House acted; the Senate has not.”

If the House bothers to bring up a bill to replace the food stamp program and the others left out of this bill you can count on them being as miserly as possible. It wouldn’t entirely surprise me if they couldn’t pass one at all, since no Democrats will support one like that and there are enough Tea Party lunatics in the Republican caucus to block a 218-vote majority.