From The Guardian UK: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/may/15/house-of-representatives-food-stamps-cuts
Democrats to speak out against House bill would cut about $2.5bn a year from the food stamp programme
guardian.co.uk,
Wednesday 15 May 2013
A House committee rebuffed Democratic efforts Wednesday to keep the $80bn-a-year food stamp programme whole, as debate on the farm bill turned into a theological discourse on helping the poor.
The House bill would cut about $2.5bn a year – or a little more than 3% – from the food stamp programme, which is used by 1 in 7 Americans.
The committee rejected an amendment by Democrats to strike the cuts 27-17, keeping them in the bill.
The legislation would achieve the cuts partly by eliminating an eligibility category that mandates automatic food stamp benefits when people sign up for certain other programmes. It would also save dollars by targeting states that give people who don’t have heating bills very small amounts of heating assistance so they can automatically qualify for higher food stamp benefits.
Republicans argued that the cut is small relative to the size of the programme, now known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, and that people who qualify for the aid could still sign up for it, they just wouldn’t be automatically enrolled. They defended the cuts after representative Juan Vargas, a Democrat from California, quoted the Book of Matthew in opposing them: “When I was hungry you gave me food. When I was thirsty, you gave me drink.”
Several Republicans talked about their Christianity and said the Bible encourages people to help each other but doesn’t dictate what the federal government should do. “We should be doing this as individuals, helping the poor,” said Representative Doug LaMalfa, a Republican from California.
Representative Jim McGovern, a Democrat from Massachusetts, offered the amendment to do away with the cuts. He said taking the hunger assistance away from people will just make the poor “more vulnerable and more miserable”.
Continue reading at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/may/15/house-of-representatives-food-stamps-cuts
