Making the hungry hungier - it's a done deal.

Senate votes to slash food stamps (Click on this heading to read more)

Rss@dailykos.com (joan Mccarter)
Tuesday, February 04, 2014, 3:39 pm
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The Senate has just passed a Farm Bill that slashes food stamps more than $8 billion over the next 10 years. As Laura reported, that means nearly two million people will see a cut in benefits, will see a cut in how much food they can live on. The vote was 68-32, with the following Democrats voting against the cuts: Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Bob Casey (D-PA), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Ed Markey (D-MA), Chris Murphy (D-CT), Jack Reed (D-RI), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI).
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Here's what else is in the controversial bill, courtesy David Dayen.
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    The politicians patting themselves on the back for repealing subsidies to farmers have found a surreptitious way to deposit these savings right back in the pocket of agribusiness. That's because the farm bill will expand subsidies for crop insurance. which looks like a private-sector program but which actually hands over virtually the same amount of taxpayer money to farmers, mostly wealthy ones, as the old direct payment program. What's more, the shift from direct payments to crop insurance ensures that those handouts can be distributed in a hidden, more politically palatable way, making it more difficult to ever dislodge them.