Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI)
As the House and Senate conference on the farm bill—including the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program—begins, attention is turning to just who is on the conference committee. The committee has 41 members and is chaired by Rep. Frank Lucas (R-OK), chair of the House Agriculture Committee.
Other notable members include South Dakota Republican Rep. Kristi Noem, who:
[...] knows how important getting disaster relief is to her state. Ranchers lost tens of thousands of cattle to a blizzard that roared through the state earlier this month, and these ranchers have been unable to obtain federal assistance. Noem, who favored allowing the government to shut down as a way to put a cap on federal spending, believes that the federal government should assist ranchers following this natural disaster.
Riiight. So, hypocrite. Also, Noem's family has a farm that's gotten
millions in subsidies. Also representing House Republicans on the committee is Rep.
Steve Southerland, who pushed a work requirement for the House food stamp-slashing bill
even in cases where there are several jobseekers for every job and no job training programs available.
The Democratic side, unfortunately, includes Michigan Sen. Debbie Stabenow, who was a key voice in the Senate bill making $400 million a year in cuts to food stamps. Stabenow's line is that she's just trying to prevent fraud and abuse—not mentioning that the food stamp fraud rate is around one percent. When the Senate passed its bill, Stabenow's spokesperson also had something to say about lottery winners on food stamps—something that happened once, as far as we know, and which was a felony under current law. So while Stabenow says Senate Democrats won't accept much more in the way of food stamp cuts than they've already made, she's not exactly an inspiring champion for the program.
Democrats need to not try to sound all Republican-Reasonable by spouting on about virtually nonexistent fraud. The economy still sucks. There are still around three jobseekers for every available job. The minimum wage leaves many families below the poverty line despite full-time work. Food stamps are a tiny bit of aid helping families put enough food on the table in these terrible circumstances. That's a principle Democrats should be defending and expanding, not buying into the idea that if they just cut a little they'll somehow be able to persuade Republicans not to cut a lot.