Key Vote YES on Separating Food Stamps from the Farm Bill

Dear FreedomWorks Member,

As one of our millions of FreedomWorks members nationwide, I urge you to contact your U.S. Senators and ask them to vote YES on Senator Ron Johnson’s Motion to Recommit on the Farm Bill, S. 954.  This motion would separate food stamps from the rest of the bill.

Currently about 80% of the Farm Bill’s funding actually goes to fund the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and other food welfare programs such as WIC. These programs have massively ballooned in size since 2008, with SNAP (food stamp) enrollment increasing by more than 70%, to over $80 billion dollars a year.  

These food welfare programs are desperately in need of structural reform, as they are beset by massive fraud and abuse.  But instead being considered in the open, food stamps are tucked into the farm bill in order to attract urban members of Congress to vote for the agricultural subsidies that rural members want.  It’s classic legislative vote-trading, with two terrible bills being passed every five years by sticking them together.

Sen. Johnson’s Motion to Recommit would simply return the Farm Bill back to committee with instructions to take the SNAP title out of the bill.  A massive entitlement program like food stamps should be considered as a standalone bill and not used as an $80 billion dollar earmark.
 
Thus, I urge you to call your U.S. senators and ask them to vote YES on Sen. Johnson’s Motion to Recommit.  We may count the vote on this motion as a KEY VOTE when calculating the FreedomWorks Economic Freedom Scorecard for 2013. Our scorecard is used to determine eligibility for the FreedomFighter Award, which recognizes Members of Congress with voting records that support economic freedom.

Sincerely,

Matt Kibbe
President and CEO, FreedomWorks