|
kalikshama -> # 1 Congressional recipient of farm subsidies pushes for a $20 billion cut in food stamps (6/8/2013 7:57:41 AM)
|
MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell took Tennessee Rep. Stephen Fincher to task for using the bible to justify making billions in cuts to the food stamp program, while, as a member of the House Agriculture Committee, attempting to justify the millions of dollars he receives in federal farm subsidies.
These Republicans love welfare for the wealthiest among us, but if you're a poor starving child in America, well, you'd better go find yourself a job. O'Donnell also took the members of Congress to task as a whole for refusing to do something about the massive conflicts of interest we see like this one, where they're allowed to vote on policies that are going to benefit themselves financially. He's absolutely correct that it ought to be illegal, but it's not.
...Undergirding Fincher’s sloppy exegesis is an old conservative fiction that people who rely on food stamps are lazy parasites who mooch off the government and refuse to work. In reality, most of the country’s 47 million food stamp recipients are children or the elderly, and many are employed. A 2012 report from the USDA found that 45 percent of SNAP recipients were under 18 years of age, nearly 9 percent were age 60 or older, and more than 40 percent lived in households with earnings. [...]
Fincher’s misuse of scripture is also a slight to disabled Americans who rely on SNAP to stay afloat. Americans with disabilities, many of whom are elderly or military veterans, are burdened with any number of maladies that make full-time work difficult, if not impossible. Far from encouraging freeloading behavior, food stamps and programs like Meals on Wheels help us honor our national commitment — and, for many Americans, a religious duty — to assist our fellow citizens when they need us most. Fincher is free to draw his own conclusions about the Bible and its teachings. But using scripture to accuse millions of Americans of being lazy freeloaders is not only spiritually bankrupt, it’s also politically stupid.
...Fincher has received $3.48 million in federal farm subsidies since 1999, according to the Environmental Working Group, an advocacy group that annually obtains figures from the Agriculture Department. In 2012, he received $70,574.
He ranks first among current members of Congress in receipt of such money, according to the group.
Further, in its deliberations over the farm bill, the House committee — with Fincher going along — voted to make the cut in food stamps while increasing crop insurance by $9 billion over 10 years.
http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/heather/odonnell-calls-out-gop-rep-using-bible-jus
|
|
|
|
