Bob Schieffer Slams Republicans for Giving Out Corporate Welfare Instead of Helping the Poor

http://www.forwardprogressives.com/bob-schieffer-slams-republicans-for-giving-out-corporate-welfare-instead-of-helping-the-poor/

While millions of poor and middle class Americans vote Republican, GOP politicians make it clear where their allegiance lies—with the wealthy and big corporations.

They don't even attempt to hide this fact.  They constantly oppose programs that would help the poor, and build their entire economic ideology upon policies which always benefit the rich.

So it should come as no surprise that Republicans would choose to approve billions of dollars being given to giant farm owning corporations, while not approving a single dollar for the poor.

Bob Schieffer called out GOP Representative Mike Kelly this past weekend after the House of Representatives did exactly that.

See, earlier this month House Republicans passed a bill which removed funding for SNAP, but went ahead and gave billions of dollars in farm subsidies to big farm owning corporations.  The Republican defense of this is of course that they "couldn't pass a bill which included both provisions, so they decided to separate the two."

Funny, they had no problem quickly approving a bill which hands over billions of dollars to big business, but they chose to leave out the part which would fund food stamps for hungry, poor people (many of which are children).

As Schieffer told Kelly, "It's almost like welfare for the wealthy, but you don't include a dollar for hungry people for food stamps. What kind of message is that?"

And I couldn't agree more.  While I don't doubt a compromise couldn't be reached to pass a bill which included both farm subsidies and food stamps, it's laughable that once again Republicans made sure they took care of big business first and put off helping the poor.

But even as Kelly tried to claim that the food stamp bill was coming, he continued the tired rhetoric Republicans often use by saying, "What bothers me is that one in six Americans is on this program.  We're wasting billions on a program that's not lifting people from poverty, but keeping them in."

Interesting, he doesn't seem to feel that way about the billions he just voted in favor of giving to big corporations.  Maybe it's time we stop giving them welfare and maybe they will no longer "need it"—as Republicans claim.

It seems Republicans feel that welfare "keeps people addicted to poverty" while believing corporate welfare is "vital for the health of our nation's economy."  Only in the delusional world Republicans live in can corporations worth billions of dollars need government assistance, while millions of people living on less than $15,000 per year to support their entire family are just looking for a free handout.

Democratic Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin responded to Kelly's ridiculous accusations about Americans on welfare by saying, "It's because their wages and incomes are so low.  They're working but they can't feed their children. It isn't a matter of defrauding American taxpayers."

It never fails that if a bill must be passed, Republicans make damn sure that their big corporate buddies, or the wealthy, get taken care of while everyone else can fend for themselves.


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