The world of politics is so convoluted.
The House’s rejection of the farm bill by a 195 to 234 vote on Thursday was a stunning defeat for Speaker John Boehner, who supported the legislation and brought it to the House floor for a vote. Mr. Boehner was unable to win support from 62 Republicans on the party’s conservative fringe, who cast no votes because they believed the $20.5 billion cut in the food stamps program did not go deep enough. Nearly all Democrats also voted no because that draconian cut would have eliminated food assistance for nearly two million people.
So why does the food stamps program needs cutting, and according to some even a cut of $20.5 billion wasn’t going far enough? Various explanations have been offered, but perhaps none as grotesque and offensive as this one.
“The one who is unwilling to work shall not eat,” Rep. Stephen Fincher (R-Tenn.) said in quoting the Bible last month of the 48 million hungry Americans, mostly working families and senior citizens, who require federal help to put food on the table.
Why of course, that is from II Thessalonians 3:10. Never mind that many who depend on food stamps are not “unwilling to work”, as the biblically versed congressman puts it, rather, the working poor who depend on food stamps because of low wages.
So it didn’t work this time. Better luck next round, Saul of Tarsus.
