New House Speaker Mike Johnson’s entire political schtick is rooted in his “Christianity.” In one of his first interviews after being elected speaker, he said: “Someone asked me today in the media, ‘People are curious, what does Mike Johnson think about any issue?’ I said, ‘Well, go pick up a Bible off your shelf and read it. That’s my worldview.’”
It seems that Johnson’s Bible contains only the Old Testament, or he’s skipped over the parts that are inconvenient to his actual worldview. Like the part where those who aren’t in need share their bread with the poor. He wants no part of that—and doesn’t want the government to be involved in making sure American families don’t go hungry.
He’s called one of the most important anti-poverty programs, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, “our nation’s most broken and bloated welfare program.” His position is complicating an already messy effort to get the massive farm bill reauthorization over the finish line before it expires at the end of the year.
Johnson’s opposition to SNAP gives hard-liners’ calls for an overhaul of the program more weight. They want to roll back expansions the Biden administration made in 2021 and impose even more work requirements than already exist on the program. And they’re pretty sure they can get them. “I can’t imagine the Mike Johnson that we know would pass up the opportunity to secure as many conservative wins as possible in this farm bill,” one GOP aide involved in the discussions told Politico. “And that means serious SNAP reforms.”
They got a start on that overhaul in the debt ceiling deal Johnson was involved in negotiating with the White House. They lowered the age for exemptions for requirements from 54 to 50 but still protected vulnerable adults, including people aging out of foster care, veterans, and unhoused people of all ages. Hard-line Republicans want more and clearly think they’ll get it from Johnson. They’re probably not wrong.
This is while food insecurity is once more on the rise. The U.S. Department of Agriculture just released its annual report on food security, finding that 44.2 million people experienced food insecurity at some point in the past year. That’s 17 million households affected by hunger, and an increase from 10.2% in 2021 to 12.8% in 2022. That includes 4.1 million more children experiencing food insecurity.
The farm bill is already complicated by efforts from Republicans to claw back funding from the Democrats’ signature Inflation Reduction Act as part of a massive $50 billion reduction they’re trying to get in the reauthorization. Every Democratic member of the House Agriculture Committee signed on to a letter in opposition to those cuts. That’s a problem on a very big bill that needs to be done with bipartisan support, especially to get through the Senate.
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