Bipartisanship, everybody; isn’t it great?

On Tuesday, the Senate passed — on a bipartisan basis, no less — the so-called farm bill. The bill will lead to 850,000 families on food stamps seeing their benefits cut by about $90 per month, a cut to the program’s budget of about 1 percent. The president is expected by all to sign it.

The bill is the product of roughly three years’ worth of on-and-off negotiations between Republicans and Democrats in the House and Senate. Its total spending is roughly $956.4 billion. It ends direct subsidy payments to farmers worth billions of dollars, and it is expected to cut somewhere around $16 billion in government spending over the coming 10 years.

In a statement released after the Senate vote, President Obama said that while the bill “isn’t perfect” he believes “it will make a positive difference not only for the rural economies that grow America’s food, but for our nation.”

Wtf! I get $189 a month and based on this information, my benefits will be reduced to $99 a month!!!?? If the cost of living in New York City is increasing, how can I (or anyone else) live off of this amount!?! This is grounds for a disaster….although our government/military wastes money in so many other areas, e.g. spending millions of dollars each year maintaining its 234 golf courses!! [http://www.policymic.com/articles/21194/defense-department-operates-234-golf-courses-in-the-world-draining-millions-from-the-u-s-budget]. Two of Busta Rhymes’ album titles come to mind: Extinction Level Event and ANARCHY. 

Source: http://www.salon.com/2014/02/04/congress_passes_farm_bill_cuts_food_stamps_by_8_7_billion/; See also, http://www.salon.com/2012/12/12/7_absurd_ways_the_military_wastes_taxpayer_dollars/.