House Republicans
plan to nearly double their proposed cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, from the $20.5 billion that wouldn't cause enough human misery to satisfy Republican lawmakers, to $40 billion:
[House Agriculture Committee Chair Frank] Lucas told lobbyists that a Republican working group agreed on cuts expected to total $40 billion and could include steps such as mandatory drugs tests and employment rules.
Mind you, the initial $20.5 billion Republicans were trying to slash would have
cut 5 million people from SNAP, increasing poverty and raising health care costs. But neither the Americans who would go hungry as a result nor the increased health care costs are the sort of thing today's Republicans care about.
In a telling exchange, Sister Simone Campbell, one of the nuns on the bus, testified at a House Budget Committee hearing:
Rep. Reid Ribble (R-WI) indicted Campbell and the Catholic Church for not doing enough to fix poverty on their own, asking, “What is the church doing wrong that they have to come to the government to get so much help?”
Campbell shot back, “Justice comes before charity… Everyone has a right to eat, and therefore there is a governmental responsibility to ensure everyone’s capacity to eat. Love and care makes a difference, but the issues are so big there isn’t sufficient charitable dollars there.”
House Republicans will apparently attempt to send the $40 billion in food stamp cuts to the Senate as the two chambers work to pass a farm bill. Obviously, there is no way the Senate will pass $40 billion in cuts, nor would President Obama sign it. But Republicans will definitely put up a fight to make as many Americans hungry as they possibly can.
Tell Congress: Oppose all cuts to food stamps.