Those Charming Republicans

AP--The Republican-led House voted to slash domestic and international food aid Thursday while rejecting cuts to farm subsidies.

A spending bill to fund the nation’s food and farm programs would cut the Women, Infants and Children program, which offers food aid and educational support for low-income mothers and their children, by $868 million, or 13 percent. An international food assistance program that provides emergency aid and agricultural development would drop by more than $450 million, one-third of the program’s budget. The legislation passed 217-203.

The bill would trim the Food and Drug Administration’s $2.5 billion budget by almost 12 percent, straining the agency’s ability to implement a new food safety law signed by President Barack Obama this year. Democratic attempts to restore some of the food safety money were rejected.

As they cut other programs, lawmakers rejected two proposals that would have saved money by lowering the maximum amount of money a farmer can receive in subsidies from the government. While fiscal conservatives and other critics of subsidies argued that they need to be cut as lawmakers look for ways to save, farm-state members said those cuts should be pushed back until Congress considers a new five-year farm bill next year.

I can't think of any logic that would justify this action except, "rich people are good, poor people are bad." And even then, does thinking rich farmers are good justify handing out big subsidies to them? The mind boggles.