Serving the Flathead Valley & Montana since 2006. A reality based independent journal of observation & analysis. © James R. Conner.

 

20 September 2013

Why the dickens is Daines such a food stamp Scrooge?

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Yesterday, Rep. Steve Daines joined 215 other Republicans in approving a $40 billion cut in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, once and forever known as food stamps) over the next ten years. No Democrat voted for H.R. 3102, although some didn’t vote, and 15 Republicans voted against it.

The impact on Montana and the 129,000 Montanans currently on SNAP? According to the Center for Budget Policies and Priorities (CBPP), approximately 12,000 would become ineligible for the program. In 2012, the monthly mean per person benefit was $127, so Daines voted not only to keep food from the hungry, he voted to deprive Montana — and Montana farmers and grocers — of $1.5 million each month.

This isn’t tough love or smart economics. It’s ideology run amok. And it directly hurts not just the down and out, but Republican businessmen, and indirectly hurts the entire state. How on earth can our congressman justify casting this vote?