September 19, 2014
By Lauren Carroll
...The farm bill and food stamps (click here) merged once again in 1973. Representatives from urban areas and those from rural areas figured this pairing would aid the bill in securing broad support in Congress, according to an article by New York University law professor John Ferejohn.
Since then, a program -- currently called SNAP, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program -- has been part of every farm bill that has become law, according to a December 2013 Congressional Research Service report. Today, a farm bill is passed about every five years, reauthorizing food and agriculture policy, including measures such as crop and commodity subsidies, conservation programs, agriculture research and food stamps.
In 2013, the House -- led by Republicans, Cotton included -- became the first chamber to pass a farm bill that didn’t include food stamps. But that bill wasn’t able to pass the Senate, and the final farm bill that became law in February 2014 did include food stamps.
So how does this history illuminate the accuracy of Cotton’s claim?
Obama did support passing a farm bill that included food stamps in 2013, with the White House releasing an extensive report in November 2013, titled, "The Economic Importance of Passing a Comprehensive Food, Farm and Jobs Bill."
But the idea of merging the two topics together in one bill hardly came from Obama. It had been that way, uninterrupted, since 1973 -- when Obama wasn’t even a teenager yet.
And while the number of food stamp recipients grew dramatically in the wake of the last recession, which bottomed out around the time Obama took office, food stamps have accounted for a majority of farm bill spending for more than a decade.
Republicans like to call it politics, but, in essence it is nothing but lies. When lies are the politics of the people they are completely disconnected from reality and their government.
The truth is when the electorate of the USA is empowered with facts, they can act on government overreach in elections.
The truth, in the politics of deception, always loses. The people of the USA aren't that stupid.
