Hypocrite in the House

Rep. Doug LaMalfa, Chico’s Congressional representative out of nearby Richvale, ought to be ashamed for backing the recent House farm bill. It proposed slashing $20 billion in food-stamp (aka Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) funding for the nation’s neediest citizens, while simultaneously expanding crop insurance for non-needy agribusiness.

Thankfully, the bill went down in flames last week.

Talk about voting his own interests. LaMalfa and his family, as the CN&R has pointed out numerous times over the years, have benefitted from farm subsidies to the tune of $5 million since 1995. That’s more than $270,000 a year in taxpayer money for the past 18 years.

LaMalfa, speaking recently during a House Agriculture Committee meeting, called on the private sector to lend support to the nation’s destitute. Taxpayers shouldn’t be forced to aid the needy—they should do so out of the kindness of their hearts, he lamented.

What a hypocrite.

If LaMalfa has any pride, he will put his money where his mouth is and donate his share of subsidies—aka corporate welfare, aka taxpayer dollars—to the people who need it, the people who would go hungry without the $4.50-per-day allowance the average food-stamp recipient receives. Or perhaps LaMalfa would like to try eating on that allowance. Imagine that. We’re fairly certain neither of those things is going to happen.

What we hope will happen is that our esteemed Congressional representative will realize how out of touch he is with a large segment of his constituents, particularly those who have been hit hardest by the economic downturn and are struggling to make ends meet. Food stamps don’t equate to the extra income taken in by wealthy farmers. Food stamps are a lifeline. Families rely on them for survival.