Democrats Slam House Bill on Food Stamps

WASHINGTONAlthough the House on Thursday passed a bill that would slash roughly $40 billion in food stamp funding over a decade, its chances of becoming law are extremely slim as Democrats and Republicans haggle over farm legislation, and more broadly, ways to cut the national deficit.

The legislation would cut assistance to 4 million Americans in the next few years and yield $39 billion in savings over the next decade, The Washington Post reported.

Although food stamps provide crucial aid to poor families, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) said many individuals abuse the program.

"Frankly, it's wrong for hardworking, middle-class Americans to pay for that," the Post quoted him as saying.

Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), who chairs the Senate Agriculture Committee, said the bill didn't have a prayer of surviving in the Democrat-controlled Senate or White House.

"Not only does this House bill represent a shameful attempt to kick millions of families in need of food assistance, it's also a monumental waste of time," she said in a statement Thursday. "The bill will never pass the Senate, and will never be signed by President Obama."

In July, the House passed a five-year farm bill that excluded funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). The Senate previously passed a bill that consolidated farm and nutrition programs and would generate roughly $24 billion in cuts.

The current farm legislation is set to expire at the end of the month.

Its obvious that we will not have a new farm bill in place by the time the current one expires, about two weeks from now," American Farm Bureau Federation President Bob Stallman said Thursday in remarks to the Agricultural Business Council of Kansas City. The only extension Farm Bureau supports is a five-year extension that looks a lot like the new farm bill that is working its way through Congress."

Jay Carney, White House Press Secretary, on Thursday characterized the House bill on food stamps as "terrible policy".

Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) acknowledged the bill would save around $40 billion, but he questioned the means.

"But how would it save that $40 billion?" he asked on the Senate floor. "By snatching food out of the hands of millions of the neediest children and their families."