Congress May Cut Food Aid, Not Farm Aid

[amjucsc]

Not sure how this hasn't already been posted, but...

<http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050312/ap_on_go_co/food_farm_programs>

Excerpt: Cuts in food programs for the poor are getting support in Congress as an alternative to President Bush's idea of slicing billions of dollars from the payments that go to large farm operations...

...Instead, Republican committee chairmen are looking to carve savings from nutrition and land conservation programs that are also run by the Agriculture Department. The government is projected to spend $52 billion this year on nutrition programs like food stamps, school lunches and special aid to low-income pregnant women and children. Farm subsidies will total less than half that, $24 billion...

[Name removed]

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[mistertrickster]

2. That was the one thing food aid had going for it--it benefitted food

producers--other than it was the right thing to do.

The way it was, you had the farmer getting directly subsidized to grow the stuff, and the poor were subsidized to buy the stuff with food stamps (another indirect farm subsidy).

Question is, if the poor can't use food stamps, who's going to buy all the food that the farmers are getting subsidized to over-produce?

Oh well, as long a Oscar Meyer and Archer Daniels Midland are kept happy, the other peones will fall into line.