Moments in GOP Asshattery – Jeff Sessions edition
Epic tool, Senator Jeff Sessions wants the nations poor to survive on less than $44 per month. Dontcha just love compassionate Conservatives?
In amendments that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) agreed last night to add to the Agriculture Reform, Food and Jobs Act of 2012, Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) proposed reforms that Democrats say would end up cutting more than $4 billion from food stamps over the next decade.
Despite agreeing on Monday night to add Sessions’ amendments to what’s otherwise become known as the “farm bill,” Reid also added an amendment by Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) that looks to restore some of that lost funding. She’s led the charge against Sessions, citing a Congressional Budget Office (CBO) report that claims the proposals would result in average benefits being slashed by up to $90 a month. The average monthly benefit was $133.84 in 2011, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture statistics, which means Sessions proposals could leave America’s poor only $43.84 on average to spend on food in a month.
The CBO estimated earlier this year that one in seven Americans receive federal food assistance. The agency said that taxpayers spent $78 billion on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) in 2011, making it the second largest social safety net program after Medicare. The government claims that every month, federal food aid keeps more than 5 million Americans from slipping into poverty.
The Pothole in Our National Political Psyche
Middle class people have a vested interest in healthy levels of infrastructure investment. They depend on good roads, schools, and transit. Wealthy people don’t.
