WASHINGTON – Today President Joe Biden addressed a proposal by House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) to end food assistance for many hungry people as a condition for raising the federal government’s debt ceiling.
The following is a statement by Scott Faber, Environmental Working Group senior vice president for government affairs, about Biden’s remarks:
President Biden is right: We should not use hungry people as hostages in a fight over the debt limit.
Speaker McCarthy says our social safety net should be a ‘hand up, not a handout,’ and government programs ‘are supposed to be temporary, not permanent.’ Perhaps he should apply that logic to the 20,000 farmers who have received farm subsidies for 37 consecutive years – including four farmers in his district who have collected almost $15 million, courtesy of taxpayers.
Instead, many of the McCarthy allies who represent the farmers receiving these payments are the very ones heading up the fight to cut food assistance for hungry people.
The four farmers who live in McCarthy’s district and have gotten farm subsidy payments for decades are:
Farmers remain eligible for subsidies as long as their average annual adjusted gross income is less than $900,000, or less than $1.8 million for farm couples, and their farm sales exceed $1,000.
By contrast, anti-hunger assistance programs are subject to much stricter income and asset tests than farm subsidies. So poor people remain on Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits for an average of just 12 months.
Rep. Dusty Johnson (R-S.D.) represents 1,368 farmers who have collected payments for 37 years in a row. Johnson is the leader of 24 House Republicans seeking to deny hungry people food assistance.
Other House members representing more than 1,000 farmers getting payments for nearly four decades include Budget Committee Chairman Jodey Arrington (R-Tex.).
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The Environmental Working Group (EWG) is a nonprofit, non-partisan organization that empowers people to live healthier lives in a healthier environment. Through research, advocacy and unique education tools, EWG drives consumer choice and civic action.
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