New 5-year farm bill would cut subsidies while slashing food stamps benefits (xpost frm Poverty)

[unhappycamper]

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/01/27/new-5-year-farm-bill-would-cut-subsidies-while-slashing-food-stamps-benefits/



New 5-year farm bill would cut subsidies while slashing food stamps benefits
By Agence France-Presse
Monday, January 27, 2014 22:30 EST

Congressional negotiators reached a deal on a five-year bill Monday that eliminates or caps agriculture subsidies for thousands of farmers and slashes the food stamp program for needy Americans.

The mammoth measure, which took some two years to hash out and endured a collapse of negotiations in 2013, could now be voted on as early as Wednesday in the House of Representatives, the chamber’s Republican leaders said.

The Senate could address the so-called farm bill next week, according to Senate Democrat Debbie Stabenow, chair of the chamber’s Agriculture Committee.

In announcing the deal, Stabenow said it “includes major reforms like eliminating the direct payment subsidy program, streamlining and consolidating other programs, and cracking down on fraud and misuse.”



unhappycamper comment: Let's talk about that debt limit. Remember all those "Emergency Supplementals" our congresscritters approved to keep our Iraq and Afghanistan occupations going?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_debt_of_the_United_States#Appendix

Here's the result of dubya and neocons on our debt; I stripped out everything except the debt limit increase:

June 11, 2002 +450
May 27, 2003 +984
November 16, 2004 +800
March 20, 2006 +781
September 29, 2007 +850
June 5, 2008 10,615 +800
October 3, 2008 1 +700

Over five trillion dollars ($5,365,000,000,000) was added to the debt between 2002 and 2008. Once more in case you missed it:

[center]Over five trillion dollars ($5,365,000,000,000) was added to the debt between 2002 and 2008.[/center]



See that little orange slice that sez 'Food & Agriculture 1%'? See that dark blue slice that sez 'Military 57%'? Our 'representatives' plan on taking more away from those with the least to pay for that big ass dark blue slice o the pie.

Maybe it's time do do some serious pruning on that pie.

[newfie11]

1. Appalling

Feed the MIC monster but forget the people!
Forget science also. Let's just keep developing different ways to kill people!

[djean111]

2. Food stamps are now just a political pawn - the people who need them mean nothing

to either party, unless politically expedient. Bigger fish to fry now, food stamps as an issue has reached its sell-by date. IMO.