As you may have heard, Republicans in the House of
Representatives eliminated food stamps from the recent farm bill.
Why? Representative
Stephen Fincher (Republican, Tennessee)
explained by quoting Thessalonians: “
The one who is unwilling to work shall not
eat.”
The assumption here is that anyone on food stamps is unwilling
to work, and thus, should not get a government subsidy.
What’s interesting is that Fincher is listed as one of the
most corrupt politicians in Washington, DC. For example, over the years, Fincher himself
has received $3.5 million in federal agricultural subsidies. See, he’s a cotton
grower, and so stands to benefit from passing the farm bill.
But still, there’s got to be massive fraud in the food stamp
program, right?
Wrong. The
New York Times reports that error and fraud in
the agricultural crop insurance program is significantly higher than in the
food stamp program.
Another
important thing—food stamps go to poor people. Farm
aid goes to corporations. The smallest farms will get $5,000 of aid, on average. The
biggest farms (which comprise the top 20%)? One million dollars and up.
Here’s Fincher again: “The role of citizens, of Christians,
of humanity, is to take care of each other. But not for Washington to steal
money from those in the country and give to others in the country.”
Hypocrisy, thy name is Fincher!
