House Panel Okays $33 Billion in Food Stamp Cuts [View all]

[Hissyspit]

Source: Reuters

House panel okays $33 billion in food stamp cuts

By Emily Stephenson
Wed Apr 18, 2012 2:39pm EDT

(Reuters) - A congressional panel approved about $33 billion in cuts over 10 years from food assistance programs in a partisan vote that signaled Republican members' preference to trim social programs instead of farm programs or defense spending this year.

The cuts advanced by the House of Representatives Agriculture Committee on Wednesday are expected to die in the Democratic-controlled Senate.

But the vote done by voice, in which several Democrats uttered irritable 'nays', showed that Republicans will push domestic spending cuts over defense cuts or tax hikes as they try to replace automatic cuts that take effect in January.

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"I would contend this entire process is a waste of time," Representative Collin Peterson, the committee's top Democrat, said in opening remarks. "Taking a meat ax to nutrition programs that feed millions of hard-working families in an effort to avoid defense cuts is not a serious way to achieve deficit reduction," he said.

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSBRE83H16320120418?irpc=932