Farm Bills Would Cost More Than Obama Stimulus

The House and Senate are considering farm bill legislation this week whose costs should raise red flags for all Americans. In fact, the House and Senate versions of the bill would cost far more than the Obama stimulus package.

The costs are just one example of how the farm bill ignores taxpayers, consumers, and virtually all Americans.

First of all, the “farm bill” is a misleading title. It’s more appropriately called the food stamp bill, since nearly 80 percent of the costs are connected to food stamps. By combining agriculture programs with food stamps, legislators have turned the food stamp bill into a political game where, every five years, Congress rubberstamps legislation that helps special interests at the expense of most Americans.

Via: The Foundry

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Milk prices poised to soar as Congress bickers on farm bill

The farm bill fighting heating up in Congress could leave in its wake a major dent on the household economy — the price of milk.

The big debate is what to do about the $80 billion annual Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or food stamps. House and Senate members are set to negotiate the fate of the bill and its five years’ worth of funding this week, but if they don’t find consensus, then dairy supports may be left in limbo, The Associated Press reported.

The dairy subsidies expire at year’s end. And as a result, milk prices will soar, industry experts warn. President Obama has weighed in — but only to issue a simple directive, rather than substantive suggestion.

“What are we waiting for?” Mr. Obama said, AP reported. “Let’s get this done.”

But meanwhile, the House and Senate are far apart on the bill. The House has passed a measure that trims $4 billion, or 5 percent, from the food stamp program each year, and reformed eligibility requirements. The Senate only wants a scale-back of funding that’s about a tenth of that, AP reported.

“I think there are very different world views clashing on food stamps, and those are always more difficult to resolve,” said Roger Johnson, president of the National Farmers Union, in the AP report.

Via: Washington Times

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DEMS PUSH TO TAKE UP AMNESTY, SAY BOEHNER WILL CAVE

On Thursday, President Obama took to the White House podium to triumphantly announce the end of the government shutdown. In doing so, he proclaimed that he wanted to push forward with other legislative priorities, including a budget, immigration reform, and the long-stalled pork-laden farm bill.

“[I]n the coming days and weeks, we should sit down and pursue a balanced approach to a responsible budget, a budget that grows our economy faster and shrinks our long-term deficits further,” Obama stated. Historically, “balanced” has been code for tax increases.

Obama then pushed on to immigration reform: “Number two. We should finish the job of fixing our broken immigration system.” Naturally, he blamed the Republican House for stalling his preferred immigration bill.

Finally, Obama called for the farm bill to be passed: “Number three. We should pass a farm bill, one that American farmers and ranchers can depend on, one that protects vulnerable children and adults in times of need, one that gives rural communities opportunities to grow and the long-term certainty that they deserve.” And, disingenuously, he called for negotiations.

Via: Breitbart

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House passes bill cutting $40 billion from food stamp program

WASHINGTON — The House voted to cut nearly $40 billion from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or food stamps, over a period 10 years on Thursday.

House Republican’s Nutrition Reform and Work Opportunity Act of 2013 passed largely along party lines on a vote of 217 to 210.

The billion dollar cuts to the program — which has ballooned in participation and doubled in cost since 2008 to nearly $80 billion annually — are achieved through reforms such as reducing waivers for work requirements for able-bodied adults without dependents, tightening eligibility requirements like categorical eligibility (a policy allowing states to determine SNAP eligibility through participation in other welfare programs) and closing loopholes.

The nutrition title represents the second portion of the farm bill, which was split into two separate bills when a comprehensive farm bill failed to pass the House over the summer (in large part due to disputed over the cuts to the program). The cuts to SNAP this time, however, were twice as aggressive.

In July, the House passed the first portion of the traditional farm bill, a stripped down bill dealing just with farm programs.

“In the real world, we measure success by results,” Indiana Republican Rep. Marlin Stutzman said on the House floor arguing in favor of the bill. “It’s time for Washington to measure success by how many families are lifted out of poverty and helped back on their feet, not by how much Washington bureaucrats spend year after year.”

Democrats argued that House Republicans are trying to take food out of needy American’s mouth, with House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi calling the bill “dangerous” and Maryland Democratic Rep. Donna Edwards calling it “mean” on the floor.

“This bill goes against decades of bipartisan support for fighting hunger and would be disastrous for millions of Americans,” Connecticut Democratic Rep. Rosa DeLauro said in a statement before the vote, calling the cuts “immoral.”

Via: Daily Caller

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Get excited for more “farm bill” drama, coming soon to Congress

Earlier this summer, we watched the unexpectedly high-drama saga of the “farm bill” play out in Congress, and when lawmakers reconvene next week, it’s going to be a major action item that the leadership will want to wrap up before the current legislation expires at the end of September — even as the looming budget battle and the Syria debacle will probably occupy a lot of attention.

Here’s your refresher course on the pending status of the new legislation, as succinct as I can make it: The “farm bill” has traditionally contained both “agriculture policy,” ahem, and the outline for the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (i.e., food stamps) — the deliberately omnibus design usually helps to ensure the passage of both urban and rural interests’ favored programs and protect the status quo. The budget for food stamps has more than doubled in just five years, but the Senate passed a renewed version of the farm bill that made only the most miniscule, practically nonexistent spending cuts possible to the food stamps program (read: an oh-so-brave and far-sighted $400 million/year out of an annual budget of now almost $80 billion). The House then took their turn at crafting matching legislation, and came up with a version that dared to make the wildly draconian cut of $2 billion a year, gasp, to food stamps. The White House immediately shot the idea down, but the issue suddenly and dramatically became moot when the House itself rejected the omnibus package with bipartisan opposition. Out of nowhere, lawmakers where suddenly talking about divorcing “agriculture policy” and food stamps into two more transparent bills, and for one brief, shining moment, it looked like we might get both some serious and reasonable cuts to both food stamps and the egregious corporate welfare divvied out to theagriculture sector and their many lobbies… But then, House Republicans voted through the agriculture portion as a single bill without really reforming our market-distorting and pork-tossing agricultural programs much at all, and we’re still waiting for the House version of a bill for the food stamp program.

Via: Hot Air

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