GOP whips Cantor nutrition bill, Pelosi will oppose it
September 12, 2013 | 05:43 PM
The Republican House leadership has begun urging members to vote for the nutrition bill organized by House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., that would cut $40 billion from food stamps over 10 years, Rep. Tom Petri, R-Wis. told The Hagstrom Report today.
Rep. Tom Petri, R-Wis.
“They were whipping as we left,” Petri said, adding that he was not asked his position, and that he is still “reviewing" the bill but that he wants “to move the process forward.”
A House Republican leadership aide declined to describe the process as whipping, but said “conversations” are being held with members.
There is speculation that the House leadership plans to bring up the bill next week, but there has been no official announcement.
Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. responding to a question from The Hagstrom Report at her news conference today, said that she will “absolutely” urge Democrats to vote against the Cantor bill but that she doesn’t have to do that because “the momentum is really springing from our members.”
Pelosi called the Cantor cut “mean spirited,” and said she is “proud” that Rep. Marcia Fudge, D-Ohio, the chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, will handle the bill for the Democrats on the House floor.
She said the Republicans are proposing the food stamp cuts “because they don’t want to touch one hair of the head of the wealthiest people in America. It’s just a bad idea.”
Pelosi noted that the House had left for the weekend today before lunch because the Republicans had been unable to agree on a bill to keep the government running after September 30, and urged the Republican leadership not to take a scheduled break beginning September 20 because Congress has so much unfinished business including immigration reform and the farm bill.
Rep. Ron Kind, D-Wis.
Petri made his comments at a news conference with Rep. Ron Kind, D-Wis., and volunteers for the Public Interest Research Group, who are delivering petitions to Congress to cut certain farm subsidies. (See story below.)
Kind is the principal author of a farm bill amendment that failed on the House floor. The amendment would reduce crop insurance subsidies and provide more support for small farmers.
Petri supported the Kind amendment, and both said they still hope their ideas will be included in the farm bill conference.
Kind said he cannot support the Cantor amendment “when you see the rise in hunger,” and that cuts in direct payments and crop insurance would remove the need to cut conservation and nutrition. But he also said the farm bill needs to pass this year to provide certainty for farmers.
Kind also also said he believes Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack is leaning toward encouraging President Barack Obama to veto another extension of the 2008 farm bill.
House Agriculture Committee ranking member Collin Peterson, D-Minn., is urging Vilsack to make immediate plans to institute the 1949 dairy law, which would cause milk prices to rise, The Hill reported today.
Peterson has had a face-off with the International Dairy Foods Association, which represents the dairy processors, over the dairy title of the farm bill. Peterson said IDFA “is really going to hate this.”
IDFA did not respond to a request for comment.
Rep. Tom Petri, R-Wis.
“They were whipping as we left,” Petri said, adding that he was not asked his position, and that he is still “reviewing" the bill but that he wants “to move the process forward.”
A House Republican leadership aide declined to describe the process as whipping, but said “conversations” are being held with members.
There is speculation that the House leadership plans to bring up the bill next week, but there has been no official announcement.
Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. responding to a question from The Hagstrom Report at her news conference today, said that she will “absolutely” urge Democrats to vote against the Cantor bill but that she doesn’t have to do that because “the momentum is really springing from our members.”
Pelosi called the Cantor cut “mean spirited,” and said she is “proud” that Rep. Marcia Fudge, D-Ohio, the chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, will handle the bill for the Democrats on the House floor.
She said the Republicans are proposing the food stamp cuts “because they don’t want to touch one hair of the head of the wealthiest people in America. It’s just a bad idea.”
Pelosi noted that the House had left for the weekend today before lunch because the Republicans had been unable to agree on a bill to keep the government running after September 30, and urged the Republican leadership not to take a scheduled break beginning September 20 because Congress has so much unfinished business including immigration reform and the farm bill.
Petri made his comments at a news conference with Rep. Ron Kind, D-Wis., and volunteers for the Public Interest Research Group, who are delivering petitions to Congress to cut certain farm subsidies. (See story below.)
Kind is the principal author of a farm bill amendment that failed on the House floor. The amendment would reduce crop insurance subsidies and provide more support for small farmers.
Petri supported the Kind amendment, and both said they still hope their ideas will be included in the farm bill conference.
Kind said he cannot support the Cantor amendment “when you see the rise in hunger,” and that cuts in direct payments and crop insurance would remove the need to cut conservation and nutrition. But he also said the farm bill needs to pass this year to provide certainty for farmers.
Kind also also said he believes Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack is leaning toward encouraging President Barack Obama to veto another extension of the 2008 farm bill.
House Agriculture Committee ranking member Collin Peterson, D-Minn., is urging Vilsack to make immediate plans to institute the 1949 dairy law, which would cause milk prices to rise, The Hill reported today.
Peterson has had a face-off with the International Dairy Foods Association, which represents the dairy processors, over the dairy title of the farm bill. Peterson said IDFA “is really going to hate this.”
IDFA did not respond to a request for comment.
