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WASHINGTON — A perennial fight over food stamps flared up this week after House Agriculture Committee Chairman Glenn “GT” Thompson introduced a farm bill whose cost exceeds $1 trillion for the first time.
Democrats and anti-hunger groups are decrying proposed changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, the official name for food stamps, saying it would cut the program by nearly $30 billion over 10 years.
While the bill would improve access to SNAP for some groups like college students and would eliminate a food stamp ban on those convicted of drug-related felonies, it would also restrict the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s ability to set SNAP benefits or increase those benefits for reasons other than inflation.
About $10 billion that would be diverted from SNAP spending would be used to substantially increase funding for two trade promotion programs — the Market Access Program and the Foreign Market Development Program. The money diverted from food stamps would also increase funding for specialty crop and horticulture programs.
“Chairman Thompson’s partisan farm bill takes an ax to one of our nation’s most vital anti-hunger programs at a time when food insecurity is spiraling out of control,” Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-5th District, said. “In Minnesota alone, over half a million people, including nearly 200,000 children, are facing the reality of hunger. SNAP serves as a critical lifeline and first line of defense against the hunger crisis.”
Meanwhile, Republicans accuse Democrats of “funny math” and say projected cuts in the program are based on faulty projections of increases in the program.
SNAP and other nutrition programs account for about 80% of the USDA budget and there is a fight over GOP efforts to trim the program in every farm bill. Those efforts are usually beaten back by a coalition of farm state and urban lawmakers who fight for the program. That could happen again this year. About 450,000 Minnesotans depend on food stamps.
The House bill will eventually have to be reconciled with the Senate’s version of the farm bill, which won’t have the proposed changes to the SNAP program.
“It’s inexcusable for House Republicans to propose a Farm Bill that would make a $30 billion cut to nutrition assistance over the next decade, especially when we know SNAP benefits are already woefully insufficient. Six dollars per day, per person, is not enough to support working families,” said Sen. Tina Smith, a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee. “The House Republican proposal prevents nutrition assistance from keeping pace with food costs. Simply put, any farm bill proposal that weakens nutrition assistance now, or in the future, cannot pass Congress.”
Other negotiations over crop subsidies, crop insurance and conservation programs will also occur. An expansion of the safety net for farmers of row crops and dairy producers is expected in the final bill. And there’s a good chance a final farm bill could be approved by Congress before the end of the summer.
The last five-year farm bill expired last September, so Congress approved a one-year extension. That has resulted in uncertainty and has made it difficult for farmers, conservationists and bankers to conduct long-term planning.
Emmer: I never wanted to be Speaker
During an interview with Bloomberg television this week, Rep. Tom Emmer, R-6th District, said he never wanted to be Speaker of the House, a post he sought last year after former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy was ousted by a small group of disgruntled GOP ultraconservative lawmakers.
Emmer, the House Majority Whip, threw his hat into the ring after fellow House Republicans rejected Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, and indicated Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., would also lack enough support. But Emmer was also unable to garner sufficient support, especially after former President Donald Trump urged House Republicans to reject the Minnesotan as a “globalist RINO.”
The House Republican conference then unanimously chose Rep. Mike Johnson, R-La., to lead them.
“Actually, I didn’t want it,” Emmer said of the speaker’s job. “That’s why I didn’t put my name in until everyone who wanted it was not going to be a viable candidate.”
Emmer, however, avoided answering a question about any desire to hold the top Republican post in the U.S. House in the future.
While Johnson has so far avoided the same fate as McCarthy, the Louisianian is expected to face a tough time when the GOP holds its next leadership elections after November’s general election. The same hard-right lawmakers who rejected McCarthy are angered that Johnson negotiated with Democrats to win approval of “must pass” legislation.
Emmer was also asked why he hasn’t traveled to the Manhattan courthouse that has been holding Trump’s “hush money” trial. Johnson and about a dozen other Republican lawmakers have made that trip to show their support for Trump and to call the court proceedings a politically motivated “sham.”
“I support what’s going on … but it’s just a matter of logistics,” Emmer said.
As whip, he said, he has to make sure there are enough House Republicans in town to pass GOP-sponsored legislation, which for a number of reasons is a tough job. He said he has had to convince some lawmakers to stay in Washington, D.C., even if they had other plans.
“I’ve got to set an example,” Emmer said.
The defense in Trump’s trial rested this week after the former president declined to take the stand. A jury next week will begin to determine whether Trump falsified business records to cover up payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels to quash a negative story that could hurt his chance of winning the 2016 election.
Justice Alito’s flag flap
There was a furor this week, at least among Democrats, over revelations that Supreme Court Justice Sam Alito had an upside-down American flag flying in front of his house for a short period of time last January.
Inverted flags were used in protest by the rioters who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. Alito, who says his wife hung the flag upside down in reaction to a neighbors’ anti-Trump sign, has been asked to recuse himself from two Jan. 6-related cases.
“It is incontrovertible that at the time the upside-down flag flew from your front lawn, ‘Stop the Steal’ activists had adopted the inverted flag as their symbol of protest,” said a letter to Alito from Rep. Hank Johnson, D-Ga. “Their belief that widespread election fraud had thrown the election from former President Trump to then President-Elect Biden has never been supported by any evidence.”
Johnson’s letter, signed by 44 House Democrats, said Alito should recuse himself because Supreme Court ethics guidelines say “a Justice should avoid impropriety and the appearance of impropriety in all activities” and “a Justice should disqualify himself or herself in a proceeding in which the Justice’s impartiality might reasonably be questioned …”
The New York Times on Wednesday followed up with another story that said witnesses had seen the Alitos fly an “Appeal to Heaven” flag outside the couple’s New Jersey beach house. Like the inverted U.S. flag, this flag was also carried by rioters at the Capitol.
Also known as the Pine Tree flag, the Appeal to Heaven flag dates back to the Revolutionary War and is now a symbol of support for former President Trump by a religious group that belongs to the “Stop the Steal” campaign, a group that seeks to remake the U.S. government to adhere to Christian doctrine.
Johnson and other Democrats insist that one case that Alito should recuse himself from centers on whether Trump has absolute immunity from any criminal acts he may have committed while in office. The other case will determine the constitutionality of felony obstruction charges used by the Justice Department to prosecute Jan. 6 defendants, whose actions included ransacking the Capitol and bludgeoning police officers.
Alito is not expected to heed the calls for his recusal.
Your questions and comments
A reader took issue with comments made by Wright County Sheriff Sean Deringer, who at a recent law enforcement round table accused undocumented immigrants of “retail crimes” like theft and fraud and an “uncooperative spirit” the sheriff indicated could be the result of coaching.
“I wonder if he is prepared to provide statistics from his arrest records to document his claim,” the reader said. “National research studies have suggested that undocumented immigrants on average commit fewer crimes as they tend to be very hardworking and want to be invisible, given their tenuous legal status. Also, few are in a position to commit major financial crimes like fraud and embezzlement. As of 2021, 2.8% of Wright County, MN residents were born outside of the country. The percentage for Minnesota is 8.8%, three times as high.”
Please keep your comments, and any questions, coming. I’ll try my best to respond. Please contact me at aradelat@minnpost.com.
Ana Radelat
Ana Radelat is MinnPost’s Washington, D.C. correspondent. You can reach her at aradelat@minnpost.com or follow her on Twitter at @radelat.
