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Separate food stamps from farm bill
The Gazette Opinion Staff
Aug. 22, 2012 1:43 pm
The so-called “farm bill” was up for vote in Congress before adjournment for five weeks. President Barack Obama was in Iowa recently, telling the farmers that the Republican House is stalling by not voting for this bill.
The facts: 80 percent of the farm bill is budgeted for food stamps; the cost of food stamps during Obama's term has doubled to $80 billion a year.
In 1970, just one in 50 Americans received food stamps. Today the number is one in seven.
Put the farm bill on its merits and the food stamps on a separate bill.
Gordon Emmons
Cedar Rapids
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