My CongressmanTakes Government Money, But Denies Food Stamps For The Poor

The person pictured to the left is my congressman, Mac Thornberry. He is a Republican who represents the 13th Congressional District in Texas (which includes numerous counties and stretches from Wichita Falls to the tip of the Panhandle).

He is a rancher from Clarendon (about 50 miles east of Amarillo) in Donley County, and he doesn't mind taking government assistance. He has received at least $29,774 in farm subsidies from the U.S. Agriculture Department (not counting possible government support for crop insurance premiums) -- and he wants that government money to keep on coming. That's why he voted to keep the farm subsidies in the recent Agriculture budget passed by the House.

But while he thinks it is fine for government money to go to him (even though he is worth somewhere between a quarter and a half million dollars), he doesn't think poor people deserve any help from the government -- not even to help them buy food for their children. Thornberry is one of those Republicans that voted to cut funds for the SNAP program (food stamps) out of the Agriculture budget completely. He, and his fellow Republicans, decided the $20 billion cut to food stamps was not enough, so they just cut the program out of the Agriculture bill.

I am embarrassed and angry over Thornberry's mean-spirited vote. It is unacceptable for any elected official (or political party) to continue government payments to wealthy farmers and ranchers, while refusing to help feed this nation's poor (many of them children). It's just indecent.

NOTE -- There are 13 other Republicans who voted this way, and receive government money from the Agriculture Department. You can go to this website by Rep. George Miller (D-California) to find out who they are.