Republicans Doubled their demand to $40 billion in SNAP reductions and won in a vote Thursday. Eleanor Clift on the hardliners' move that would drop 3.5 million Americans from the rolls.
One after another, a parade of Democrats went before the microphone, held up a flier with a picture with a picture on it: a grandmother is Arkansas, an unemployed mother in Ohio, a veteran, a cancer survivor, on and on, all faces of the hungry in america. Flustered by the theatrics, Republican Pete Sessions of Texas sought to clarify the GOP's proposed $40 billion cut in food Stamps, or SNAP, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, explaining that only able-bodied adults would be removed from the rolls if they're not looking for work.
Democrat Jim McGovern countered that if his Republican colleague had trouble with the waivers that allow governors to exempt people from the work requirements associated with receiving government benefits, "you should talk to your governor." Texas Governor Rick Perry is among those who requested waivers for their states during the economic downturns because there were no jobs, and they weren't going to let people go hungry. Click here to read more.
