This as the hunger crisis in this country is at epidemic levels.
I guess that means you will be skipping lunch.
"Tougher rules set for food stamps; Will place stiffer sanctions on violating stores" by Jim Abrams | Associated Press, August 11, 2012
WASHINGTON — The Agriculture Department says it is going to impose tougher penalties on stores that violate food stamp rules and give states new tools to root out applicants who are ineligible for the benefit program that now covers about 1 out of every 7 Americans.
Not that I am for ripping off the American taxpayer; however, if only government would turn such focus to war profiteering and bank looting, 'eh?
The move to shore up integrity in the program comes as Congress struggles to pass a $100 billion-a-year bill that will fund food stamps and determine farm policy for the next five years. Some 80 percent of the money in the farm bill goes to the food stamp program....
In a program where even a small amount of abuse can amount to millions of dollars, ‘‘we are very mindful of public confidence’’ that only those who qualify for benefits will receive them, said Department Undersecretary Kevin Concannon.
Yeah, I guess the trillions the banks and the wars cost us are too big for a crackdown, so let's go after hungry people. After all, they can't fight back becau$e they are weak.
That confidence is particularly important now because of growing pressure on Congress to pass a farm bill that includes the food stamp and other nutrition programs.
Well, after the latest trio of Obama scandals we have none, absolutely none, in this rank, fetid, rotten to the core carcass and corpse of a government.
The farm bill, which sets policy on crop subsidies and conservation, has made it through Congress in the past because the link with food stamps made it popular for lawmakers with rural and urban constituents. With the current bill set to expire at the end of September, the Senate passed a new bill in June and the House Agriculture Committee approved a similar version in July.
Web version cut it there.
But House GOP leaders have declined to bring the bill to the floor for a vote, fearing that disputes over food stamps would lead to its defeat. The House bill would cut current food stamp spending by about 2 percent, or $1.6 billion a year, mainly by cracking down on policies making it easier for states to bestow benefits.
That's very, very interesting:
Amnesty Bill is a Massive Multi-Million Dollar Fraud
It's about replacing American workers, and am I ever irritated about it and the agenda-pu$hing media's obfuscation of the issue.
Shocking
US government leaflet tells Mexican immigrants they can collect food
stamp benefits without admitting they're in the country illegally
I'm all full up on hypocrisy, too.
Meanwhile, kids in West Virginina are begging corporations for breakfast.
But House conservatives are demanding further cuts in the program while some Democrats say they are excessive and would result in several million people being removed from food stamp rolls. The Senate-passed farm bill reduced food stamp spending by about $400 million a year.
That didn't stop Democrats from -- once again -- caving on the issue.
The food stamp program has seen participation climb from 28 million at the start of the recession to 46 million today and has become a focus of fiscally conservative lawmakers critical of government spending.
Yeah, the wars, aid to Israel, corporate welfare, and lavish political lifestyles funded by taxpayers are not on that list, and there can't have been an economic recovery, either, not with those numbers.
The new sanctions announced by the Agriculture Department on Thursday would allow the department to both disqualify a retailer who traffics and assess a monetary fine proportional to the amount of business the store does with the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. Currently the department cannot do both and too often the penalties "may have been viewed as a slap on the wrist," Concannon said.
Oh, like the FINES the BANKS get for laundering drug money and such!
States would also be required to check a national database to verify that applicants haven't been disqualified in other states and confirm from Social Security Administration records that the applicant is not in jail or deceased.
This government luv$ the f***ing databases, huh?
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Yeah, as a famous French person once said, "let them eat bugs."
Related: Bill with cuts to food stamps splits Agriculture Committee Democrats
Of course, none of them have to worry about where their next taxpayer-funded meal is coming from.
Speaking of which:
"Bills seek control of farm scrutiny; Animal welfare limits planned" by Tracie Cone | Associated Press, March 18, 2013
SACRAMENTO — An undercover video that showed California cows struggling to stand as they were prodded to slaughter by forklifts led to the largest meat recall in US history. In Vermont, a video of veal calves skinned alive and tossed like sacks of potatoes ended with the plant’s closure and criminal convictions.
Now in a pushback led by the meat and poultry industries, state legislators across the country are introducing laws making it harder for animal welfare advocates to investigate cruelty and food safety cases.
I thought government was supposed to be regula.... never mind.
Some bills make it illegal to take photographs at a farming operation. Others make it a crime for someone such as an animal welfare advocate to lie on an application to get a job at a plant....
Liars making it a crime to lie. That's really, really, rich.
Formal opposition to the California bill comes from the ASPCA, the Teamsters, the humane society, and dozens of others. They say these attempts by the agriculture industry to stop investigations are a part of a nationwide agenda set by the American Legislative Exchange Council, a conservative think tank backed by business interests.
Related: Sunday Globe Special: California Cold Snap
Did you notice how quickly the Globe forgot about the fires?
The council has labeled those who interfere with animal operations ‘‘terrorists,’’ though a spokesman said he wishes now that the organization had called its legislation the ‘‘Freedom to Farm Act’’ rather than the ‘‘Animal and Ecological Terrorism Act.’’
We are ALL TERRORISTS, Americans, if you OPPOSE THIS GOVERNMENT and the CORPORATIONS it SERVES!
‘‘At the end of the day it’s about personal property rights or the individual right to privacy,’’ said spokesman Bill Meierling. ‘‘You wouldn’t want me coming into your home with a hidden camera.’’
I don't run a butchery, but who the hell knows what this administration is capable of in light of the IRS and spying on AP scandals?
And he's defending the right to treat animals inhumanely? I suppose he would seeing as his whole industry is based on slaughter.
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