Amid Lopsided Recovery, Republicans Plan Cuts to Food Stamp Program

www.commondreams.org...

Got to love the republican congresses priorities....

Conaway told the Wall Street Journal on Thursday that implementing changes may take months, but reports suggest that Republicans will aim to slash funding for the program and tighten eligibility requirements.

Obama already made cuts to food stamps...

Last February, Obama signed an $8.7 billion food stamp cut into law as part of an omnibus bill that included billions of dollars in agriculture subsidies and insurance.

Not many understand that Desperate People are Dangerous People and will go to any lenghts to feed their families.

Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Massachusetts), who sits on the House Agriculture Committee, told WSJ that the Obama administration should push back against the effort. "We cannot balance the budget on the backs of poor people," he said.

Okay - how are the poor (many working minimum wage and/or part time) suppose to survive?

Hey why don't we make some modest cuts to the bloated military budget and expand food stamps and other programs for our less fortunate brothers and sisters.

I already help people who are short on being able to provide food, the food banks here are always emptied. I don't know what else I can do. Don't they know how this will hurt all of us, more cuts?

a reply to: FyreByrd


Woah, woah, woah, there buddy. Are you suggesting we take money out of the pockets of the military industrial complex to help feed the poor? What are you some socialist commie? You want North Korea or East Timor invading the US?

Tis called stealing candy from a baby - literally.

Food is a necessity, and with the U.S. food prices rising on what seems to be an hourly basis, the GOP looks to the poor and sees another mouth to feed (if it's not a country club corporate mouth, let them eat cake - literally!).

a reply to: jtma508

I hope your post is in sarcasm.

a reply to: FyreByrd

As you have shown in your OP Obama has already done the things you are worrying about the R's doing.

The problem is you still believe in our political system. Did not Obama say he would get us out of the wars? He is starting new ones.

NONE of 'them' give a # about us. I am surprised when I see people still towing the party line.

Their 'kung foo' is strong.

originally posted by: FyreByrd
Not many understand that Desperate People are Dangerous People and will go to any lenghts to feed their families.

And not many desperate, dangerous people understand the lengths that I will go through to protect my family (and the same goes with my wife). Oh, maybe you meant they'll finally find it within them to be able to support themselves in one of the countries that still offers some of the best opportunities for all walks of life...

No?

Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Massachusetts), who sits on the House Agriculture Committee, told WSJ that the Obama administration should push back against the effort. "We cannot balance the budget on the backs of poor people," he said.

This is a false argument--he knows it, but do you? No one is balancing the budget "on the backs of poor people." We're overspending on the backs of our children, and that's the root of the problem. If we stop that, we won't have to make all these cuts.

Okay - how are the poor (many working minimum wage and/or part time) suppose to survive?

The same way the majority of Americans who are not on government assistance survive. It's not a complicated equation.

I'm not dismissing the fact that many people are on government assistance for very valid reasons, but if you ignore completely the fact that there is plenty of room to tighten up scrutiny of those receiving my tax dollars on which to live because there is plenty of fraud in the system, or able-bodied and -minded people who are choosing not to work in order to live a lazy-ass lifestyle (my brother-in-law and his girlfriend are exactly that...him more than her, though), then we can not hold an intelligent conversation on this topic. But I have the full faith and confidence in our average poor family that they have the ability to make it on their own--many are just not willing to do what it takes, or don't have knowledge as to what they can do to get to that point. They need knowledge, not necessarily monetary handouts.

Hey why don't we make some modest cuts to the bloated military budget...

I'm on board, keep talking.

...and expand food stamps and other programs for our less fortunate brothers and sisters.

And you lost me. The simple answer is this--because the federal government doesn't need to do that. That's what local communities and charities and churches and the like are for. I agree that minimal assistance may be necessary from time to time for many people, but what this current administration (and many before it) have done is expanded the ease of entry into the program, and then make it very undesirable to make the effort to get out of it.

I believe the whole welfare system is a trap in this country; whether by design or not, it has become that. We need to revamp the whole system and remove the 'trap' part of it, so that those who truly need the assistance can temporarily get it (and I don't mean 99-weeks temporarily) and then also be able to get out of it more easily. Maybe the exit strategy could include a petering out of the handout instead of a dramatic stop, that way the families could more easily adjust. Something...but throwing more money at it will not fix the problem.

Removing money may not either, as I'm not convinced it's the amount of money in the system that is the problem, but the system itself.

a reply to: SlapMonkey

Because hard work is just that: hard. Why go out and get a job and work when you can sit at home and not, but still get paid for it?

Welfare systems are supposed to be a hand UP, not a hand OUT. Are there people out there who qualify for welfare systems entirely on merit? Absolutely yes. Are there people out there who abuse the system and/or work hard to make sure they qualify for welfare systems? Equally absolutely yes.

a reply to: Shamrock6

I know both types. One is in a wheelchair with a heart condition and can't move. The other sits home playing video games collecting checks and whining about the man. The one who scams the system and uses the money for video games somehow gets more benefits than the truly needy person.

Theres a big election coming up, there just trying to get more votes.

Is there a link to this story anywhere but commondreams.org?

I like it. At a time where all jobs created are low income or minimum wage, food and rent costs are soaring, and benefits are shrinking, let's destroy unions, push down workers pay, limit unemployment benefits and cut social programs. Makes sense, in an American sort of way.

Hey Fyrebyrd, Another thing The Repubs don't understand is that funding Social Programs also has the effect of stopping a Deflationary Spiral taking effect. Most of the money spent into the economy comes from the bottom 4 quintiles and the Demand Destruction that would take place removing money from the bottom tier directly effects Corporate America (The Repubs Main Sponsors). Ideologues really don't put 4 and 2 together do they? LOL Arjunanda



















a reply to: FyreByrd

How about we just cut back on government. They've been cashing checks on our dime for way to long. On topic, I have to say I agree with a lot of what SlapMonkey said. When the money stops coming the motivation will kick in. I know a lot of people truly need the assistance, but it is also abused way to much. Do I think they can balance a budget from cutting into food stamps? No, but its not gonna help the budget by giving lazy people free checks. If it takes you longer than 6 months to find a job, personally I believe you're not trying hard enough.

If you would drop the partisan BS it would be easier for me to agree with you on a lot of issues. There is no sane reason to cut FOOD benefits to our citizens. Everyone has the right to eat and live.

originally posted by: MOMof3
I already help people who are short on being able to provide food, the food banks here are always emptied. I don't know what else I can do. Don't they know how this will hurt all of us, more cuts?

I'd have to research this more, but I'd suggest its just a play to the Republican Tea Party base. They know it won't go anywhere. One of the things people don't seem to understand is that "proposing" legislation anymore is really part of campaigning. Nothing ever gets done as proposed. In fact, most of what gets done in Congress is never seen by the public because stuff is hidden at the back of Legislative "Bills" as add on crap. That's how the Agricultural bills get so huge and bloated.

So this proposal is a sop to the working middle class Tea Party crowd that's fed up with paying fat taxes to feed, house, clothe and educate non-workers. Neither they, nor the Republicans in Congress care to understand is that because of crappy global trade agreements, there's fewer jobs per capita year over year, so...the number of so-called "Employed" goes down as a percentage of the total pool of available workers. Another thing they obscure from their view of reality is that the only jobs that are available are Starbucks barista, burger flipping and Walmart minimum wage type jobs that don't pay enough for anyone stuck in a major metro area to live on.

Well they discovered cutting unemployment extensions made people go back to work maybe cut food to the breeders will make them get out of bed and go looking for work.

a reply to: FyreByrd

I wonder how these politicians would feel and react if someone introduced a bill to cut their pay raises that they keep awarding themselves.

ID

a reply to: ItalianDressing

Their 'pay rates' pale when compared to the cash raked in by being 'in the know' when a bill being considered affects the stock market. Nothing like buying up parcels of land when a highway is being widened or times when commodities go 'hot' over international trade deals.

Congress is full of self-made millionaires.

Whoops. Wrong thread.