Comatose Congress shortens chances of a budget — again

With  the 16-day government shutdown less than one month in the rearview mirror, another looms on the horizon.
Estimated damage to the U.S. economy from November’s meltdown is $2 billion.
The main obstacle to preventing another debacle is cooperation by members of Congress to agree to fund the government.
By Jan. 15.
Suddenly, our chances don’t look so good. Congress is comatose.

CAUGHT IN THE cogs of stalled legislation is the farm bill and its unfortunate stepsister, the food stamp program. House Republicans want to slash $10 billion from SNAP, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. Senate Democrats are pushing for $4 billion in cuts over 10 years. This is on top of the Nov. 1 rollback in food stamp benefits approved in 2009 as part of President Obama’s stimulus program.
To date, the farm bill is two years overdue for a scheduled overhaul. A hodgepodge of funding keeps certain programs alive.
To Republicans, tacking food stamps onto the farm bill is toxic. Of course, if the two programs were separated, farmers would have the most to lose because only 1 percent of the U.S. population actually farms. It is representatives from the densely populated districts that keeps subsidies to farmers going because of the farm bill’s tie-in to food stamps.
Of those who rely on food stamps, 92 percent are senior citizens, the disabled, and children in poverty-level families. They comprise about 15 percent of the U.S. population. A family of four receives about $340 a month in food stamp subsidies. 
Tom Vilsack, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, defends not only the food program’s merits, but also its boost to the U.S. economy, saying recently “every dollar spent generates $1.70 in jobs,” by way of supporting food-related industries.
House Republicans, however, would prefer SNAP be stripped.
A surefire way would be to enact two of their proposals.
The first would be to deny the food subsidies to nondisabled adults age 18-49 in childless households. Currently they can receive the subsidies for three months.
The second proposal is to deny families and individuals the ability to sign up for multiple aid programs. That automatically puts 3.8 million families in danger of losing food stamps. If that were enacted, their children, totalling 1.2 million, would lose their ability to receive free school lunches.
As for the farm bill, the goal is to replace the current system of direct cash payments to farmers, regardless of what was planted. This year, $4.5 billion in checks were written to U.S. farmers.
The challenge is to provide a safety net without distorting planting decisions while also taking into account real risks and needs.

THIS 112th CONGRESS is on track to being the least efficient in post-World War II history.
The farm bill is just one of many pieces of legislation that need passing. The immigration bill, the defense authorization bill, a jobs bill and a national energy policy, are equally important pieces of legislation.
Critics say change will have to wait until after the 2014 elections to see if one party or another can achieve enough strength to override all but the most obstinate objections.
Sounds less and less like a democracy.
— Susan Lynn