Quote of the Day 2: Ronald Reagan Edition

“As long as there is one person in this country who is hungry, that’s one person too many, and something must be done about it.” Ronald Reagan, on hunger in America.

As I blogged earlier today, House Republicans cut $4 billion from the SNAP program.

Republicans Get Expensive Tax Paid Meals & Have the Audacity to Cut SNAP

Rep. Jackie Speier called out Republicans getting expensive meals on the taxpayers' dime.

"One member was given $127.41 a day for food on his trip to Argentina. He probably had a fair amount of steak. Another member was given $3,588 for food and lodging during a six-day trip to Russia. He probably drank a fair amount of vodka and probably even had some caviar. That particular member has 21,000 food stamp recipients in his district. One of those people on food stamps could live a year on what this congressman spent on food and lodging for six days," Speier said on the House floor.

Spieier was not allowed to name her Republican colleagues on the floor. The two members of Congress Speirr speaks of are Rep. Steve King and Rep. Frank Lucas.

Lucas and his wife had to survive on $127.41 per day while on a business trip (cough) to Buenos Aires. King ate on the meager sum of $3,588 during his time spent in Russia. Why do we make our members of Congress suffer like this?

Quote of the Day: SNAP Program Edition

With 1 in 4 American children hungry, it's outrageous that the House has passed a bill that cuts $40 billion from #SNAP food stamp program.

— Kirsten Gillibrand (@SenGillibrand) September 19, 2013

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities reports that the SNAP program helped 4 million people suffering economic hardship. Here is a chart.

The CBPP projects that the cost of the SNAP program will decrease. The findings are tied to the the GDP. I would have to see the numbers. I would say that depends on the economic recovery. So far Congress has done little to stimulate the economy. If people are still enrolling in the SNAP program in big numbers that means a). the economy is still bad 2.) SNAP cost may increase.

Economist Mark Zandi testified to the Senate Finance Committee that every dollar spent on SNAP puts $1.74 back into the economy. Considering that many people are economically hurting and SNAP stimulates the economy; it should come as no surprise that the House of Representatives voted to cut $4 billion from the program. The House bill would also allow potential SNAP recipients to be tested for drugs. Courts have already struck this down on the state level, including Florida.

The Southerland & Graham Race

Alex Leary reports that the Florida 2nd congressional race between Gwen Graham (D) (daughter of Bob Graham) and Republican incumbent Steve Southerland is going to be competitive financially.

Rep. Steve Southerland, R-Panama City, raised $461,000 in the second quarter, an official tells the Buzz, his best quarter ever.

But Democrat Gwen Graham came out strong, too, pulling in $375,000 in her first quarter since becoming a candidate for the 2nd Congressional district.

Graham's campaign said she has about $300,000 cash on hand. Southerland's numbers were not yet available.

Southerland is getting well-deserved grief for his amendment to the farm bill. Southerland's amendment would require food stamp recipients would be required to work. The amendment and the farm bill had no funding to help people on the SNAP program find jobs. The true goal of the amendment was to deny poor people food. The amendment was cruel and Democrats voting against the farm bill. House Speaker John Boehner couldn't even deliver his own caucus because the farm bill wasn't draconian enough. Southerland is definitely vulnerable. However, Gwen Graham is going to have to campaign on more than "Congress is a dysfunctional mess."

Conpassionate Conservatism: Rick Santorum Edition

This stupidity of Rick Santorum knows no bounds.

“If hunger is a problem in America, then why do we have an obesity problem among the people who we say have a hunger program?” Santorum asked.

People that cannot afford food because of poverty and unemployment aren't hitting all-you-can-eat buffets. Obesity is a separate issue. One thing I can guarantee is Santorum won't pay for a national exercise program if he is president. Santorum is following the Republican narrative of attacking the poor. Republicans will tell voters that the poor are Lucky Duckies and poverty has blessed them with great wealth. The Wall Street Journal took this argument to its extreme.

Who are these lucky duckies? They are the beneficiaries of tax policies that have expanded the personal exemption and standard deduction and targeted certain voter groups by introducing a welter of tax credits for things like child care and education. When these escape hatches are figured against income, the result is either a zero liability or a liability that represents a tiny percentage of income.

The Wall Street Journal took the Lucky duckies op-ed offline. Santorum attacking poor people trying to survive by eating won't fly far politically.

King Rick Scott's 'supreme executive power'

Rosalie Whiley has filed suit against Gov. Rick Scott. The governor froze all regulation for review. Even though Scott could not cite a regulation that was impeding the private sector. Whiley says the freeze affected the Department of Children and Families from renewing her food stamp application. Scott's attorneys countered by stating the governor has "supreme executive power."

Talbot "Sandy" D'Alemberte wrote a brief and noted that King Arthur in Monty Python & the Holy Grail cited "supreme executive power" over all of the Britons.

On May 23, Whiley's attorneys poked fun at Scott's claim to "supreme executive power" by suggesting that "the Governor's theory seems to have come from a Monty Python skit. See the discourse between 'Arthur, King of Britons' and 'Dennis the Constitutional Peasant,' from Monty Python and the Holy Grail."

In that scene from the 1975 cult classic comedy, King Arthur explains to Dennis, a filth-covered peasant, that Arthur rules over all Britons because a mystical Lady of the Lake "held aloft Excalibur from the bosom of the water, signifying by Divine Providence that I, Arthur, was to carry Excalibur. That is why I am your king."

Dennis responds: "Supreme executive power derives from a mandate from the masses, not from some farcical aquatic ceremony … You can't expect to wield supreme executive power because some watery tart threw a sword at you."

Here is the scene from Monty Python & the Holy Grail.

Floridians Who Don't Have A Voice

As Thanksgiving approaches, Benjamin Kirby reminds us of Floridians who are poor, living on food stamps or homeless. The numbers.

# In Pinellas County, 28,821 children live in poverty. That's 17% of children. Their Thanksgiving won't be like yours or mine.

# In Florida, unemployment is at 12%.

# In July 2010, 19.4 million U.S. households (41.8 million persons) received food stamps. That's 1 in every 6 households, an increase of 20% over the previous year. Based on the Census Bureau’s American Community Surveys for 2006-08, just under 60% of families who received food stamps had children under 18 years of age. Of these families, approximately 60% were headed by single females. Food stamps don't usually get you the kind of Thanksgiving you or I will have.

# In Florida, 40% of homeless people are families. 23% are children under the age of 18. Their Thanksgiving won't be like yours or mine, either.
In Pinellas County, there are 2,232 unsheltered homeless persons, meaning they have to sleep on sidewalks, park benches, bus stops, doorways, in encampments, along railways and the Pinellas Trail, etc. This is an increase of 83% from 2007.

# In a ten-year period in Florida, there were 149 attacks on the homeless, and 28 deaths. These are hate crimes, and they happened in cities across this state.

Food Stamp Applications Increase

Food stamp applications have gone up 15 percent in the Panhandle. Tourism is down is the Panhandle because of the Deep Horizon oil spill. Chris Thompson, president and CEO of Visit Florida explains:

"The timing of the spill couldn't have been any worse for Northwest Florida," Thompson said of the height of the Panhandle's tourist season. "After two years, volume had started coming back."

36 percent of Gulf of Mexico federal waters is closed to commercial fishing. NOAA will soon close more after oil has hit the Western coast of Florida. Tar balls have washed up on the beaches of Destin, Florida. The area is known for it's fishing.

Much of the Panhandle's economy depends on tourism and fishing. The oil spill will put many Floridians out of work. It is a bad time for Congress to vote not to extend unemployment benefits.

PR Outsourcing Nightmare

The Department of Children and Families awarded JPMorgan Chase & Co. the contract to manage the Electronic Benefit Transfer. The EBT is responsible for food stamps. Florida food stamp recipients having problems were directed to a call center in India. Because we all know there is nothing unemployed people enjoy more than speaking to someone that has outsourced their job. Thankfully, no politician civil would make political hay out of this. Unfortunately, Ronda Storms was never known for her tact.

"We should not have any jobs going outside of the country. We have enough people here in our country, we need to take care of our own who need to work," said Storms.

Storms is like clockwork. She never fails to use an issue for political opportunism.

Marco Rubio: Economics 101

Marco Rubio makes his pitch on how to fix the economy.

Stop spending money we don’t have.
Stop wasting money on things that don’t grow the economy.
Pass tax cuts that will grow our economy and create jobs.

The problem with Republicans attacking Democrats on tax cuts is President Barack Obama's Making Work Pay tax cuts. The cuts work like this.

Lowest 20% - 12.2 percent

Second Lowest 20% - 16.1 percent

Middle 20% - 20.2 percent

Fourth 20% - 26.4 percent

Next 15% - 22.5 percent

Next 4% - 2.5 percent

Top 1 - 0.0 percent

Honestly, I don't expect Obama's cuts to suddenly create jobs. People are making less and more likely to hold on to their money. The Bush administration's policy of tax cuts created 3 million jobs. The Clinton years created 23 million jobs.

Mark Zandi is the Chief Economist and co-founder of Moody's Economy.com. Zandi's study "The Economic Impact of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act" found stimulus does a greater job of creating jobs than tax cuts.



Zandi's study finds the stimulus package will boost employment in construction by 11 percent. Manufacturing jobs will increase by 4 percent.

Conservatives scream about welfare. Food stamps put $1.73 back into the economy for every federal dollar spent. I'm with Rubio on wasteful spending. I do wish Rubio would take the time to learn economics. The short answer is you have to spend money to make money. Rubio's ideas to fix the economy won't work. Rubio had his chance as House Speaker to help reduce Florida's deficit and he failed.

Hat tip to Paul Rosenberg

1 in 10 Floridians On Food Stamps

One in ten Floridians are on food stamps. Florida has seen a 30 percent increase in food stamp recipients in the past year. The economy has devastated rural communities.

The number of Lee County households receiving food stamps rose 72 percent to 25,450 in 2008, according to the state Department of Children & Families.

Other areas with big increases include Manatee County, up 60 percent to 12,652 households, and Sarasota County, which rose 54 percent to 12,399 households.

1.8 million Floridians are receiving food stamps. The state leads the nation in food stamp recipients. The Department of Children & Familes handles food stamp applications. The DCF's budget has been cut by $5 million.

In related news: Florida Department of Law Enforcement supervisor Susan Curry Wolfe was arrested for stealing $24,000 food stamps and other items. I wonder how much of this theft occurred during the holidays.

Guess Which State Leads In Food Stamps

If you guessed Florida then you are correct.

TAMPA - The recession has triggered a sharp rise in welfare benefits. Florida now leads the nation in requests for food stamps, and state leaders expect much more to come.

"These are families, these are children, these are our fellow Floridians in need. And we must do everything we can to make their lives better," said Governor Crist.

The number of Floridians getting food stamps has risen by 45 percent since last year.

In 2006, Crist said growth would magically keep Florida's econmy a float. Crist is now playing the tax shift game. Crist won't raise taxes to pay Florida's bills. He will ask President-election Barack Obama for billions. Crist wants money for bridges and Medicaid spending. Just as long as Crist doesn't have to pay for it by raising Florida taxes.