Big agriculture farm
© peacefulanarko.wordpress.comWhile congress is busy cutting food stamps for the hungry, the USDA finds big agriculture to be the real welfare cheats.
The GOP has been making political hay - or hash - out of so-called food stamp abuse, holding the food stamp provision in this year's farm bill hostage to their prejudices. The Democrat-controlled Senate passed their bipartisan version of the bill, including funding for SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or food stamps), in May. In July, the Republican-controlled House eliminated the program altogether before passing their version of the bill, leaving the two versions to be reconciled when Congress reconvenes.

Last week, however, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) issued a report for 2012 that puts a different light on the GOP insistence that SNAP is rife with abuse and fraud. The report found that the amount of major overpayments in five food assistance programs - SNAP, the School Lunch Program, the School Breakfast Program, the Child and Adult Care Food Program, and WIC (supplements for Women, Infants, and Children) - is $0. But the amount of major overpayments in farm subsidy programs adds up to over $17 million.

If you think these subsidies are going to small family farmers, think again. They are mainly going to large agribusinesses - corporations. Those who pocket the government checks are rarely those who ever step foot in a field.


Comment: If you ever want a psychopath's "interesting perspective" you really don't have to look far. Our government is chock-full of 'paths just like Steve Pincher. He is not unique, in fact, he is the norm among our rape and pillage oriented ruling class.


Those subsidies have, of course, survived and thrived in Congress all the while that legislators are screaming about food stamp abuses and trying to add heavy requirements to eligibility, like work requirements (when real jobs are nonexistent) and mandatory drug testing (that is proven to not work). Their demands ignore the fact that many food stamp recipients are already the working poor, as well as the elderly, the disabled, and children.

In May, one of the Congressmen who is the most strident about his opposition to food stamps, Rep. Steve Pincher of Tennessee, famously cited this quote from the Old Testament:

The one who is unwilling to work shall not eat.

What an interesting perspective from a man who not only will work a total of nine days in September but who also received nearly $3.5 million in government farm subsidies from 1999 to 2012. The same day that the USDA report came out, the New York Times published an article about the financially struggling neighbors of Rep. Pincher in Tennessee who are slowly starving as their food stamp benefits have been cut, and who face still more cuts in the fall - people like the woman ill with cancer who eats no more than once a day so that she can feed her children, and the under-employed mechanic who copes in the same way, plus hunts squirrels, deer, and doves to stretch his family's food budget.

Of course, there are ways that food stamps can be abused other than overpayments, but that primarily involves retailers. For instance, convenience stores sometimes add a surcharge that is then cashed out. Part may go to the store and part to the customer. The practice is called 'trafficking' and the USDA has developed methods of dealing with it. They can investigate retailers suspected of trafficking and suspend payments. In February, the USDA asked for authorization to suspend payments immediately:

If USDA determines that a retailer is a flagrant trafficker, the Department would be authorized to immediately suspend its redemptions. Such a step would happen concurrently with the retailer being charged; thereby allowing the Department to hold funds that might ultimately be forfeited by the store if the disqualification is upheld.

At the same time, the agency defended its role in combating hunger:

SNAP - the nation's first line of defense against hunger - helps put food on the table for millions of low income families and individuals every month. The largest of USDA's 15 nutrition assistance programs, it has never been more critical to the fight against hunger. Nearly half of SNAP participants are children and more than 40 percent of recipients live in households with earnings.

Now the question is, Who is going to monitor Congress? Who is going to put a stop to the abuses and profiteering of some of its members? The answer, of course, is the voters. That's always the answer - and rarely has it been so critical to the health of the nation for voters to be educated about and aware of political dirty tricks.