House Republicans tell 46 Million Americans using Food Stamps "Let them Eat Cake!"

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Thursday July 11, 2013 · 11:33 PM PDT

2013/07/11 · 23:33

House Republicans' contempt for millions of poor Americans relying on Food Stamps became the centerpiece of the Farm Bill they passed by the Food Stamp component's absence from the bill.

House Republicans finally pass a farm bill — with no money for food stamps
By Brad Plumer,
But for the first time since 1973, the House measure says nothing about funding for food stamps, formally known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, which was set at about $740 billion.

With three weeks remaining before the month-long August recess, House GOP leaders were eager to quickly pass a farm bill and begin talks with the Senate so they can spend the remainder of July voting on bills to repeal the health-care reform law and address recent Obama administration scandals.

So what Republicans really want to focus on is another ritual repeal attempt of the Affordable Care Act (#38), and another Issa fishing expedition for pretend scandals (Issa always gets skunked, than he tells us a fish story about the big one that got away).

In one heated exchange, Rep. Corrine Brown (D-Fla.) rose to admonish GOP lawmakers by saying, “This is a sad day for the House of Representatives. Shame on the Republicans.”
Rep. Rob Woodall (R-Ga.) loudly objected to her remarks and asked that they be stricken from the record.

“I will not apologize,” Brown said in response, as GOP aides sought to determine how to proceed.

Brown was permitted to speak again after a few minutes.

House Republicans have no shame, and some Democrats needled them mercilessly for their lack of compassion.

At another point, Rep. G.K. Butterfield (D-N.C.), mockingly made a parliamentary inquiry, saying he had just obtained a copy of the bill and couldn’t find the part on food stamps. “Is this a printing error?” he asked.

Its an error all right, a shocking error in judgement.

The White House issued a statement that any Farm Bill without the nutrition component would face a presidential veto.

A blistering New York Times Editorial flays the House Republicans for turning their backs on immigrants and the poor.

In the House, a Refusal to Govern
And, on Thursday, the House passed a farm bill that stripped out the food stamp program, breaking a pact that for decades has protected the nutrition needs of low-income Americans. It was the first time since 1973 that food stamps haven’t been part of a farm bill, and it reflected the contempt of the far right for anyone desperate enough to rely on the government for help to buy groceries.

These actions show how far the House has retreated from the national mainstream into a cave of indifference and ignorance. House members don’t want to know that millions of Americans remain hungry (in an economy held back by their own austerity ideology), and they don’t want to deal with the desperation of immigrant families who want nothing more than a chance to work and feed themselves without fear of deportation.

On issue after issue, they have passed radical bills and then refused to negotiate. On Thursday, for example, Senate Republicans refused for the 16th time to allow the Democratic Senate budget to be negotiated with its dangerously stingy counterpart in the House.

These House Republicans make sure only the most radical common denominators get included in the dismembered fragments of bills they now pass. That's how dysfunctional this House has become.

The Role Models for House Republicans

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