News from the Plains: All this RED can make you BLUE
The GOP does Dickens
by Barry Friedman
We read responsively.
Galatians 6:7-10
Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.
Rep. Jim Bridenstine (R-OK)
"There has been this unholy alliance between food stamps and subsidies."
Rep. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK)
"We all know those people that won’t work, right? Fraud. Absolute 100% all it is is fraud."
House passes bill cutting $40 billion from food stamp program
And every Oklahoma representative voted in favor of the bill.
More than 600,000 Oklahomans who receive food stamps will see their federal benefits drop starting Nov. 1, according to a news release from the Oklahoma Department of Human Resources. The department estimates that a family of four with no income would lose $36 in food aid each month, or the equivalent of 21 meals.
And every Oklahoma representative voted in favor of the bill.
More than 675,000 Oklahomans are at risk of going hungry every day
And every Oklahoma representative voted in favor of the bill.
76% of SNAP households included a child, an elderly person, or a disabled person. These vulnerable households receive 83% of all SNAP benefits.
And every Oklahoma representative voted in favor of the bill.
The nation’s most important anti-hunger program, SNAP provides modest benefits — less than $1.40 per person per meal next year — to help low-income families afford adequate food. SNAP households have very low incomes: four of five are below the poverty line ($23,550 for a family for four in 2013), and two of five are below half the poverty line (see chart).
And every Oklahoma representative voted in favor of the bill.
According to the latest data from the Food Research and Action Center, Oklahoma ranks ninth in the country for having hungry or food insecure citizens, with 15% of households suffering from some level of food insecurity. Food insecurity means that a family cannot afford nutritious foods or cannot afford even enough food to ward off hunger.
And every Oklahoma representative voted in favor of the bill.
More than 30% of children in Oklahoma live in a house that receive food stamp benefits.
And every Oklahoma congressman voted in favor of the bill.
The House action that stripped food stamp funding from a massive farm bill would threaten vital assistance for about 5,000 military families, mostly from the junior enlisted ranks, Pentagon officials said Friday.
And every Oklahoma representative voted in favor of the bill.
Four more things:
1) Back in July, when House Republicans approved a farm bill that removed SNAP from the legislation altogether--something that had never been done before--they (and that included all five United States Representatives from Oklahoma) voted to increase subsidies to large agribusiness, even though the nation can't afford it and agribusiness doesn't need it,
2) Since 1999, Agribusiness has contributed close to $600-million to congressional candidates,
3) Rep. Frank Lucas' top four campaign contributors are the Dairy Farmers of America, National Cattlemen's Beef Association, American Crystal Sugar, and Deere & Company. Lucas is chairman of the House Committee on Agriculture, and
4) The average campaign contribution from those trying to live on $1.40 per meal-- nothing.
I'm sure that's all coincidental, though.
Oh, this, too:
Rep. Stephen Fincher (R-Tenn.)
"The one who is unwilling to work shall not eat."
Rep. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.)
"If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat."
Be not deceived; God is not mocked.
You sure?
Farm Bill, SNAP