MSNBC's Hayes Sees Republicans 'Really Embrac[ing] Not Caring About the Poor'
On Thursday's All In show, as Chris Hayes complained about the vote by House Republicans to separate the food stamp program from the farm bill, the MSNBC host accused GOPers of taking the action "so they could focus solely on the farm stuff and really embrace not caring about the poor."
Hayes also charged that Republicans had "jettisoned 47 million hungry Americans." The MSNBC host began the segment:
But we begin tonight with an absolute eruption of shock and fury on the floor of the House of Representatives as Republicans jettisoned 47 million hungry Americans so they can get on with the business of shoveling more money into the hands of big agricultural and special interests.
After showing various clips of House Democrats unsuccessfully complaining about the bill, he added:
The last version of this bill went down to surprising and embarrassing defeat last month because the hard right of the Republican caucus was not satisfied with the $20 billion in cuts to the food stamp program, and so, this time around, the leadership went along with folks like Louie Gohmert and Michele Bachmann who are pushing the bright idea of separating the food stamp cuts from the farm bill so they could focus solely on the farm stuff and really embrace not caring about the poor.
Below is a transcript of the relevant portion of the Thursday, July 11, All In with Chris Hayes on MSNBC:
CHRIS HAYES: But we begin tonight with an absolute eruption of shock and fury on the floor of the House of Representatives as Republicans jettisoned 47 million hungry Americans so they can get on with the business of shoveling more money into the hands of big agricultural and special interests. Since 1973, the farm bill has been crafted to yolk together the fates of the working poor, largely clustered in urban areas who depend on food stamps to avoid malnutrition with farmer and agricultural industry in America's hinterlands.
It's a strange but oddly ingenius means of stitching together the two Americas. Today Republicans in the House sawed them apart, stripping the food stamp program from the farm bill entirely, a move that set off a monumental outburst of indignation from Democrats.
[CLIPS OF DEMOCRATIC MEMBERS OF CONGRESS COMPLAINING]
HAYES: Every single Democrat in the House did vote no today, along with 12 Republicans, but that was not enough to stop the Republicans' stripped down farm bill. It passed by an eight-vote margin, 216-208.
The last version of this bill went down to surprising and embarrassing defeat last month because the hard right of the Republican caucus was not satisfied with the $20 billion in cuts to the food stamp program, and so, this time around, the leadership went along with folks like Louie Gohmert and Michele Bachmann who are pushing the bright idea of separating the food stamp cuts from the farm bill so they could focus solely on the farm stuff and really embrace not caring about the poor.
But here's the best part. This really begs for belief. Once Eric Cantor lopped off those past few provisions to to feed hungry Americans, the House very quietly stuffed more pork, more spending and more subsidies into what was left into the farm portion of the bill. What Republicans passed today will cost more than $195 billion over 10 years.
The conservative Heritage Foundation eviscerated today's bill on those very grounds, saying that Republicans, quote, "wasted the golden opportunity that separation of the farm programs from food stamps could have provided to spend more money than Obama on the largest farm program." Remember that line the next time any one of those 216 House Republicans talks about how much they hate government spending.
-- Brad Wilmouth is a news analyst at the Media Research Center
