CBS host confronts Republican rep.: House farm bill is ‘welfare for the wealthy’

[Galraedia]

Source: Raw Story

CBS host Bob Schieffer on Sunday confronted Republican Rep. Mike Kelly (R-PA) after his fellow Republicans in the House stripped food stamps from the farm bill.

“You pass a farm bill in the House that gives billions of dollars, much of it to large corporations that own farms,” Schieffer noted. “It’s almost like welfare for the wealthy.”

“But you don’t include a dollar for hungry people for food stamps. What kind of message is that?” the CBS host asked.

Kelly explained that House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) had not been able to get enough agreement to pass a farm bill with food stamps and so he decided to break the bill apart and fund Supplemental Nutritional Assistant Program (SNAP) in future legislation.

Read more: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/07/14/cbs-host-confronts-republican-rep-house-farm-bill-is-welfare-for-the-wealthy/

[polichick]

1. It's not "almost like" - it IS "welfare for the wealthy"

Good on Schieffer for pointing this out - sociopathic Republicans LOVE welfare for the wealthy and corporations but hate poor people.

[indepat]

4. Wish I could have said it as well, for it is indeed sociopathy on raging 'roids

[Owl]

5. Absolutely agree!

[liberal N proud]

38. Schieffer always is careful not to stomp too hard on the 1% while pretending he cares.

[BlueStreak]

51. Why do we need ANY subsidies for the farming corporations?

I get the idea of crop insurance. If the weather is really horrible, this can drive farmers out of business. But with the consolidation of much of the farming industry, many of these corporations span regions, so they already have a buffer against bad weather.

We don't provide price supports for Microsoft in case the market for XBoxes gets soft. If this is a market economy, then we should act like it.

No subsidies for any agricultural entity that has more than $5M a year in gross income.

[polichick]

59. Same reason we have subsidies for big oil...

Our corporate whore Congress and the unending greed of a few.

You're right, big farming doesn't need subsidies.

[BlueStreak]

61. The oil subsidies are relatively small, I think.

Maybe I am wrong, but I think the oil subsidies are mostly in the depletion credit and the favorable leases on Federal land. I believe the money in the Farm bill is orders of magnitude larger.

I agree with your point, though. We don't need EITHER at this stage.

And to be honest, we probably should take a good look at the qualification limits for SNAP to make sure that they really are going to people who would not be able to have proper nutrition without it. The numbers really have grown very large with SNAP and baggers are having a field day with that. It could be that a large percentage of the people receiving SNAP are only getting a few dollars' assistance according to some sliding formula. It may be time to dial that back so that we can focus the program on the truly needy. I am not well versed on that subject. I am only saying it needs a look. I an not saying what we are doing is wrong.

[perdita9]

2. I'm glad somebody asked this question

...besides The Daily Show and the Colbert Report

[Faygo Kid]

3. Bob Schieffer is old school. He asks questions that matter.

You're not supposed to ask about the GOP's blowjobs for billionaires. Well done, Bob, although the media is basically a tool.

[alp227]

10. But do you remember when Schieffer dissed Snowden?

He's THAT old school.

[Orsino]

60. And yet he's acting surprised at "welfare for the wealthy."

"Welfare for the wealthy" is the entire Republican platform. Every GOP bill is either welfare for the wealthy or a pander to the values voters.

Right question, Bob. But had you noticed, oh, every other Republican bill that preceded it?

[Thinkingabout]

6. GOP, party for welfare of corporations, for forced births and make damn sure the children starve,

No tax on the wealthy, they need their money, guns for killing, government for the greedy.

[Frustratedlady]

7. I've never understood why they won't allow birth control.

Will Congress forever be filled with airheads that insist on the issues that the present Congress leans toward?

Sex, taxes, abortion and welfare. By now, I'd think even the Repugs would be sick of those subjects/issues. Sorry, I forgot wars.

I've never seen anything like it.

[hopemountain]

17. "I've never understood why they won't allow birth control."

because it empowers them to disempower women - as white gods, they are entitled to do whatever they damn please and women better damn well like it.

[Thinkingabout]

19. Agreed, we have to get our grassroots campaigns at full speed and get this crazy bunch out. The

Other part I don't understand are those voting for this gang and they are voting against themselves.

[hopemountain]

21. "voting against themselves"

been trying to figure this one out too... so far, it seems it has do with denial - on many levels - economic, education, gender, etc. - it's convoluted & reverse psychology is too demeaning to attempt.

[Thinkingabout]

22. Let me see if I can explain, poor people are voting for politicians who have no interest in

How poor they are, how hard they might have to struggle, whether they can afford to put food on the table for their children, unable to seek medical treatment but this same bunch of politicians vote for farm subsidies for big agri corporations.

[hopemountain]

25. yes! i have family who think & do exactly this very thing

denial is hugely powerful. to admit they are poor/struggling in any way is something they cannot do - they vote for the folks they see rich, corporatists supporting - because in a convoluted way this makes them like those whom they most want to be like. i know people whose kids have terrible health because their families are so poor they do not have good nutrition or healthcare - their mom and dad will not go for help nor accept "CHARITY" because this would be admitting they are poor.

i don't get this, either.

[Thinkingabout]

27. I deal with many family members like that and even some who thought they knew so much as to get

Me not to vote Democrat, ran on and on with their FAUX news talking points but I get lots of good information from DU and MSNBC to counter them with.

[hopemountain]

31. right on. i use du and msnbc for the same

doing my own searches and questioning everyone and everything is something else i learned from my old student days.

mine quote me from the bible, too.

[truebluegreen]

30. Because it isn't really about abortion,

it's about controlling women. It's the barefoot-and-pregnant advocates for proper female decorum.

[Hubert Flottz]

8. Eric Cantor (Rat-VA)

Likes to inflict pain and hardship, on those who are least likely to ever strike back.

He would have made a great death camp official.

[Va Lefty]

37. mean spirited little bastard

very sad the parasite resides in Virginia

[Enthusiast]

49. That's what he is. Exactly.

[Hubert Flottz]

50. I feel your pain Lefty.

The sight of the little bastid puts me in a terrible mood.

EDIT...Eric "The Redneck" Cantor puts the in re

[pampango]

9. And these huge subsidies for agri-corporations are so damaging to farmers in poor countries. n/t

[CurtEastPoint]

11. He wants to know why 1 in 6 are receiving food benefits? Asshole! Look in the mirror!

[stuffmatters]

12. Welfare for Big Agribusiness including Members of Congress

So many members of Congress are voting for direct enrichment of themselves and their families. Bachmann and Paul Ryan and their families benefit substantially from these giveaways. So starve the poor to subsidize not just big Agribusiness but also themselves; they're simply sadistic grifters.

[kracer20]

26. Conflict of Interest???

Is ,or shouldn't there be, a rule that these representatives can't vote on an issue if it has a financial interest for them?

[wordpix]

52. numerous Congresspeople hold stocks in agri-corporations

That explains a lot

[Iliyah]

13. Well thats a shocker

Enough people speaking loudly about the treatment congress is doing towards the 99%ers might wake them up re: voting their asses out of office. Wouldn't it be sweet while kicking them out office also CUT their benefits as well.

[TinkerTot55]

14. Eric Cantor....

....decided " to break the bill apart and fund Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program ( SNAP ) in future legislation."

Shorter Cantor: The poor can starve, the greedy can't wait.

[Marie Marie]

40. "in future legislation"....

Yeah, when donkeys fly! Once that Farm bill would pass, they would NEVER even consider SNAP funding.

[yonder]

46. you beat me to it....

...."future legislation" my ass. good one Eric. kind of like a jobs bill

[Owl]

15. Pass SNAP and dump the Farm Bill.

[Thinkingabout]

20. YES YES YES

[Berlum]

16. Republicans greazing the skids

[hopemountain]

18. ...

[Dawson Leery]

23. The farm bill has been welfare for wealthy agro-business for the past 30 years.

[Jack Rabbit]

24. Eric Cantor is going to introduce a separate bill funding SNAP?

Is this the same Eric Cantor who once said "There can be no Social Security in the future we (Republicans) envision"?

Just wondering.

[steve2470]

28. Great question Bob, good on ya ! Now KEEP doing that with Republicans !!!! nt

[kestrel91316]

29. I predict Schieffer will be forced to apologize within 48 hours.

Can't have journalists telling the truth now, can we?

[SunSeeker]

35. Hope he says something like, "Sorry I strayed from the corporate press release."

[question everything]

32. Like that?

[DWinNJ]

33. It's not Welfare for the Wealthy

Welfare is support for those who would are struggling or could not get by without some assistance. Most of these "farms" are large corporations that take advantage of cheap labor and are owned by 1 percenters.
It's more like a thank you gift.

Farm assistance should be revised to give it to farmers who actually need it.

[SunSeeker]

34. Thank you for showing a bit of journalism, Bob Schieffer. nt

[ErikJ]

36. Increase food stamp benefits and cut junk food out of it.

The gazillion dollar junk food industry lobbies for food stamps to buy their crap which I believe is wrong. People shouldnt be living on candy , chips and soda. Nutritional food is more expensive so food stamps benefits should be increased but junk food not allowed.

[davidthegnome]

67. I don't know anyone...

that lives primarily on candy, chips and soda - and I know several families who receive food stamp benefits. There seems to be this common myth that everyone who receives assistance, blows it all on junk food. While there may be some that do this, I suspect that they are few. Soda is a staple of the average diet for millions and millions people, a huge number of which don't get food stamps, but will spend their last few bucks on a bottle of soda as opposed to milk or juice. Chips and candy - in moderation - are also not likely to lead to immediate death or to bankrupt the Nation.

There also seems to be a great deal of confusion as to what exactly qualifies as nutritional food. Should it be organic? Does processed food count if it isn't terribly fattening? Is it okay to mix acidic fruits with alkaline? Should you not eat certain vegetables together? What about soup? Too much sodium?

Consider that, for quite a long time, Americans largely believed in the myth of the "food pyramid". Now we have a billion and a half diets being peddled every day, all claiming something different.

I don't think it would be right to place such limits on the food stamp program. I think that, if the parents or the children want to have a soda or a candy bar every now and then, then I think that's fine. I suspect we'd have to spend a rather ridiculous amount of money to ensure that families on food stamps didn't buy any junk food with it. I suspect a significant number of them and their children would go hungry more often than they already do - because many of them have no idea how to cook healthy food.

[ErikJ]

68. Junk food is anything high in salt, fat and/or sugar.

that is cooked or processed in a manner to take to the nutrition out of it. Chips, soda, candy bars cookies. THese things are killers just as cigarettes and too much alcohol are. The junk food industry is just as bad as big tobacco. Look at how much McD's is spending to defend its food and ways of advertising to little kids.

[AllyCat]

39. So Rep Kelly, if that is true, why wouldn't the House take up food for the needy FIRST?

What's more important? We all know you will never take up food for the poor. Ever. All you care about is making sure your rich benefactors get what they want, but not what they need.

[toby jo]

41. I'm a farmer and can't think that I've ever heard of, or discussed with another farmer,

anything at all about the 'farm bill'. We talk the weather, equipment, breeding, the weather, seeds, fertilizer, vetwork, field conditions, prices at the local auction, and a bit more on the weather. It's a joke to even call it a 'farm bill' in my book. It just doesn't hit home.

On the plus side - I've noticed a small, creeping awareness on global warming. Both word of mouth & print - & this is important because alot of these folks are righties. Discussions switch from 'I wish I'd have gotten that planting in before these rains' to 'Damn, the weather's been shifting'. There's even been whole articles in the farm press on global warming. It's a good sign. I fill in the gaps for them when I can- god knows there's enough of em.

[Treant]

58. Farmers Took A While

Most gardeners have been saying that for a long time, but most avid gardeners push the envelope on a few things here and there.

My boreals gave up the ghost three years ago, after many years of limping along and barely surviving. I used to grow them easily and prolifically in the 1980s.

Farmers don't push it, using a crop that's appropriate for the locale. So it took them longer to notice--the locale had to shift enough that the crop is now no longer so appropriate.

But at least they've noticed now.

[JoeyT]

66. Same here.

Though mine is more along the lines of "I wish I hadn't bothered planting before all this rain".

I've noticed a shift in acceptance of climate change among other people that grow things too: It's too hard to deny it when the weather consistently goes apeshit year after year after year. This year and last year we got drowned (We haven't had a day without rain in three weeks) year before last it was a three month drought. The year before that was a five month drought and our trees didn't put on leaves until it rained in November. The only consistency is that it's completely random. We're all feeling it.

[Coyotl]

42. Subsidies my ass, fat checks to a few large corporations. Problem going on for far too long too.

This from 2002:

Still at the Federal Trough: Farm Subsidies for the Rich and Famous Shattered Records in 2001
By Brian M. Riedl - http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2002/04/farm-subsidies-for-the-rich-amp-famous-shattered-records-in-2001

Members of Congress who are poised to spend at least $171 billion on direct farm subsidies over the next decade would be wise to examine newly released statistics detailing who actually receives these subsidies. In 2001, Fortune 500 companies and large agribusinesses shattered previous farm subsidy records, while small family farmers saw their share of the subsidy pie shrink.

These subsidy programs tax working Americans to award millions to millionaires and provide profitable corporate farms with money that has been used to buy out family farms. The current farm bills would provide even greater subsidies for large farmers, costing the average household $4,400 over the next 10 years, while facilitating increased consolidation and buyouts in the agricultural industry. ....

[blackspade]

43. Kelly is a lying sack of shit.

Just like the rest of the house GOP.

[Coyotl]

44. Riceland Foods got $110,000,000 in 2002, more than 11 states combined.

http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2004/05/another-year-at-the-federal-trough-farm-subsidies-for-the-rich-famous-and-elected-jumped-again-in-2002

[Coyotl]

45. Overhauling the Farm Bill: The Real Beneficiaries of Subsidies

http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2012/03/overhauling-the-farm-bill-the-real-beneficiaries-of-subsidies/254422/

Editor's Note: The Farm Bill is the Olympics of U.S. food and agriculture policy. Every five years or so this important legislation comes up for renewal and the games begin. The federal government awards medals in the form of billion-dollar budgets that will determine what foods we eat and how we grow them. The current Farm Bill is set to expire on September 30, 2012, and the debate over who will dominate the food system is well underway. Farm Bill 101 is a three-part series adapted from the recent update of Food Fight: The Citizen's Guide to the Next Food and Farm Bill and is designed to unravel what is at stake in this vital legislation.

The news media often cite this statistic related to the Farm Bill: the "richest 10 percent" of farm subsidy recipients take in almost three-quarters of payments. .......

[rpannier]

47. future legislation

The 5th of Never

[Enthusiast]

48. Yeah. They'll fund food stamps in future legislation.

[atreides1]

53. I figured it was Cantor

Such a twisted little ass...and that shit eatting grin of his is so irritating!

[Jesus Malverde]

54. SNAP is also welfare for the wealthy

Every time an American signs up for food stamps in one of 23 states, JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) adds to its revenue stream.

That because JPMorgan Chase contracts to operate as the processor of the Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) cards in those states. JPMorgan earns a fee for each recipient, ranging from 31 cents to $2.30, depending on the state, every month for the term of the contract.

JPMorgan's seven-year Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, the official name for the federal food stamp program) contract with New York state, for example, brought in more than $126 million of revenue to the big bank.

Florida has paid JPMorgan more than $90 million since 2007. Pennsylvania's seven-year contract exceeded $112 million.

It brings a whole new meaning to "corporate welfare."

http://moneymorning.com/2013/04/09/why-jpmorgan-wants-to-see-more-americans-on-food-stamps/

Money for the needy, used up by the greedy.

[mountain grammy]

63. grrrrrr.

[marble falls]

55. Big corn, big oil, the defense industry. The welfare queen trio that sucks up about 70% of our taxes

[Festivito]

56. SOCIALISM! SOCIALISM! SOCIALISM! SOCIALISM!

... is only for the rich ...

[Grins]

57. Bwahahahahaha! Lemme clean this one up for 'ya....

Kelly explained that House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) had not been able to get enough agreement to pass a farm bill with food stamps

Let me clarify that for you, Mike. "...Kelly explained that House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) had not been able to get enough agreement - AMONG MEMBERS OF HIS OWN PARTY - to pass a farm bill with food stamps..."

[liberaltrucker]

62. “I’m not a politician, I’m an automobile dealer"

Yeah, Mike, that really makes you believable.

Unfortunately, I live in this douchebag's district.
I wouldn't buy a car from him if he gave it to me.

[mountain grammy]

64. Wow, golly gee whiz, "it's almost like welfare for the wealthy.

Almost? Wouldn't want you to stick your chicken neck out, Bob.

[blkmusclmachine]

65. Welfare for Wall Street. But no money for Main Street.

That's how you know that DC, and it's so-called "two-Party" System, has been completely captured by and whores itself out to Big Money, and it is completely outside our ability to influence or control.