Begg discusses food stamps in his latest letter.
Republicans running the House of Representatives failed the electorate again. Most of them wanted to pass the farm bill, which would fund crop subsidies and provide for food stamps (now called SNAP or Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program). Meanwhile, a right-wing splinter group wanted to fund President Donald Trump’s wall instead. Because of the conflict, nothing passed.
As always, our Congressman Tom MacArthur distinguished himself from his fellow Republicans. He was the only one of New Jersey’s contingent of five Republican congressmen to vote to support the wall amendment and kill the farm bill.
Congressman MacArthur works hard to harm a certain segment of the population. He is on record for leading the effort to kill healthcare provided by the Affordable Healthcare Act. His solution to the school shooting crisis is to permit persons from states with concealed gun carry privileges to have the same rights when they visit New Jersey.
Now he is working on reducing the number of food stamp recipients, while at the same time authoring an amendment to protect children from losing food stamp coverage. He said “children cannot go to school and learn on an empty stomach.” Yet the proposed farm bill tightens work and job training requirements and lowers income limits in order to qualify for food stamps. My understanding is this: It is possible that junior gets his food stamps, but mom is kicked off the program because of the new proposed stricter regulations.
There they are at the kitchen table. Junior shares his glass of milk with mom. Junior says, “Don’t worry, we can half starve together.” Who could ask for a better Congressman?
Edwin F. Begg
