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The Agriculture Improvement Act, known as the farm bill, is up for renewal this year and lawmakers will soon debate whether to extend key provisions that currently help 34 million people suffering from food insecurity in America. But in today’s divisive political environment, where 15 voting rounds are needed to elect a Speaker of the U.S. House, the likelihood that our leaders will reach a consensus on this important legislation, sadly, seems entirely unthinkable. The bill, which requires reauthorization every five years, historically provides funding for nutritional and anti-hunger programs for income-challenged Americans. The bill’s current term, which expires later...

WASHINGTON - House lawmakers are readying to campaign in the post-impeachment landscape, with Democrats eager to focus on policy issues and Republicans planning to attack swing-district Democrats for voting to remove a president whom many of their constituents support. Democrats plan to defend the majority, and specifically their 30 seats in districts that Mr. Trump won in 2016, by discussing the issue that gave them the gavel in 2018: lowering health-care costs. Lawmakers expect to stay far away from talking about the two articles of impeachment the House passed against the president in December. Republicans, meanwhile, will largely embrace running...

The Trump administration is setting out to do what this year’s farm bill didn’t: tighten work requirements for millions of Americans who receive federal food assistance. The U.S. Department of Agriculture on Thursday is proposing a rule that would restrict the ability of states to exempt work-eligible adults from having to obtain steady employment to receive food stamps. The move comes just weeks after lawmakers passed a $400 billion farm bill that reauthorized agriculture and conservation programs while leaving the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, which serves roughly 40 million Americans, virtually untouched. […] Currently, able-bodied adults ages 18-49 without children...

Surprise! Man Behind the “Literally Hitler” Anti-Trump Ad Is Attorney for Ted Cruz Jim Hoft Apr 10th, 2016 11:42 am 16 Comments Just how dirty is Ted Cruz? This dirty… Attorney Chris Gober is cofounder of Citizen Super PAC and a staunch Ted Cruz supporter. ... Citizen Super PAC recently released “Heil Trump” comparing Donald Trump to Hitler. [Me: from a link provided by Gateway Pundit: "Chris Gober Chris Gober represents more than 100 active clients—including U.S. Senators, Representatives, and multibillion-dollar companies—in litigation, federal investigations, and political compliance matters. He currently serves as legal counsel for Senator Ted Cruz’s 2016...

Kasich Tries To Praise Latinos -- And Ends Up Talking About Tipping The Hotel Maid IRVINE -- Sharing an anecdote Thursday at a campaign event as he spoke about Republicans trying to attract Latino voters, Ohio Gov. John Kasich got tangled up on the details. At a luncheon hosted at a posh Orange County golf club by a local political action committee, Kasich heap praise upon Latinos -- a crucial voting bloc, with 28 million expected to be eligible to vote in the 2016 election -- for family values and work ethic, but then appeared to indirectly conflate Latinos and...

Food stamp recipients are turning the government handouts into quick cash with ads on Craigslist, despite efforts to stem fraud. The federally-funded grocery assistance coupons -- which are issued by states in the form of debit cards under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) -- are being sold on the online bulletin board as well as auction sites like eBay. FoxNews.com found several offerings at Craigslist sites around the country, where the sellers offered the welfare benefits at large discounts from face value.

White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said yesterday that the Obama administration has pulled the nation from the depths of the “Great Recession” with the creation of 7.2 million private sector jobs. … Here’s what Mr. Carney didn’t say: Since February of 2009, the first full month of Obama’s presidency, 9.5 million Americans have dropped out of the labor force. Nearly 90 million Americans are not working today! That means that 1.3 Americans have dropped out of the labor force for every one job the administration claims to have created. …

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid says his chamber won’t pass an extension of farm policy this year and is pressuring the House to figure out how to pass a farm bill. The House rejected its version of a five-year, half-trillion-dollar farm bill last week, with 62 Republicans voting no after Speaker John Boehner urged support. The Senate passed its farm bill earlier this month with support from two-thirds of the chamber. Reid on Monday urged Boehner take up the Senate farm bill before current policy expires Sept. 30. … Both bills expand farm subsidies while saving money overall and making...

The White House is threatening to veto the House version of a massive, five-year farm bill, saying food stamp cuts included in the legislation could leave some Americans hungry. The House is preparing to consider the bill this week. The legislation would cut $2 billion annually, or around 3 percent, from food stamps and make it harder for some people to qualify for the program. Food stamps, now called the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, cost almost $80 billion last year, twice the amount it cost five years ago. The Senate passed its version of the farm bill last...

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), over two million Illinoisans—or 15.7 percent of the state’s population—are currently enrolled in food stamps. The USDA’s latest data shows 2,023,635 Illinoisans were enrolled in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) in February 2013. In February of 2012, 1,831,898 people took part in the program. That’s an increase of 10.5 percent in just one year. Illinois was the only state to see a double-digit increase of the number of residents enrolled in the SNAP program from the same time period last year. …

TWEET For decades the U.S. government has knowingly given illegal immigrants food stamps, according to a former certification case worker who denounced the costly practice back in the 1980s but was essentially ordered to keep a lid on it.The retired assistant case manager, Craig McNees, was in charge of vetting food-stamp applicants in north Florida and Indiana in the ’80s and says the program was infested with fraud and corruption that was perpetually ignored by management. “Illegals would come in by the vanload and we were told to give them their stuff,” McNees said. “Management knew very well they...

A government watchdog group has discovered that the United States government is advising Spanish-speaking residents that they need not declare their immigration status to qualify for food stamps. Judicial Watch obtained the Spanish-language flyers through a Freedom of Information Act request and announced on Thursday that the "promotion of the food stamp program, now known as 'SNAP' (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program), includes a Spanish-language flyer provided to the Mexican Embassy by the USDA. A statement on the flyer—emphasized in bold and underlined—reads, “You need not divulge information regarding your immigration status in seeking this benefit for your children.”

A government watchdog group has discovered that the United States government is advising Spanish-speaking residents that they need not declare their immigration status to qualify for food stamps. Judicial Watch obtained the Spanish-language flyers through a Freedom of Information Act request and announced on Thursday that the "promotion of the food stamp program, now known as 'SNAP' (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program), includes a Spanish-language flyer provided to the Mexican Embassy by the USDA. A statement on the flyer—emphasized in bold and underlined—reads, “You need not divulge information regarding your immigration status in seeking this benefit for your children.” Judicial Watch...

Conservative legal group obtained Agriculture Department flyerYou need not divulge information regarding your immigration status in seeking this benefit for your children'Program in all 50 Mexican consulates in the U.S. helps push food stamps A Spanish-language leaflet that the U.S. Department of Agriculture has provided to the Mexican Embassy in Washington advises border-crossing Mexicans that they can collect taxpayer-funded food stamp benefits for their children without admitting that they're illegal immigrants. Underlined and in boldface type, the document tells immigrants who are unlawfully in the United States that, 'You need not divulge information regarding your immigration status in seeking...

Michelle Obama's nutrition bill fails in the House By ABBY PHILLIP | 9/30/10 4:31 PM EDT A bloc of progressive House Democrats resisted heavy White House lobbying and a 11th-hour push to broker a compromise on a child nutrition bill, ending chances that the legislation – a pet project of first lady Michelle Obama – would pass before the November midterm elections. At the root of the impasse: a proposed $2.2 billion cut in future funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, which provides food stamps for the poor. Despite personal appeals by the first lady, the Democrats balked at...

Was that a $5,000 VBH alligator clutch that Michelle Obama was carrying in Italy? So the company bragged, absolutely certain it was theirs, until the White House responded that it was not the alligator but the patent, an $875 VBH clutch and not the more expensive model. To be honest, I didn't even know what VBH was until I saw the headlines about the $5,000 one Michelle wasn't carrying. I love handbags as much as the next girl, but I could never get my head around the idea of spending that kind of money on something that is bound to...

WASHINGTON -- For her own Women's History Month assignment, first lady Michelle Obama visited Anacostia High School, on the poor side of town, where on Thursday she surprised a group of students. One of her goals is to demystify the White House and make it more accessible to the people who live here. Mrs. Obama told the youngsters she felt isolated from an institution in her own community when she was growing up and that she suspected they may view the White House and the Capitol the way she saw the University of Chicago as a young girl -- a...

The Moro Islamic Liberation Front blamed Tuesday the Philippine government for the current crisis affecting peace negotiations between the GRP and MILF panels. In a statement, MILF Chaiman Al Haj Murad Ebrahim said the government should adhere to the consensus points and a draft proposal on the issue of ancestral domain. He added that such moves could avert the possible disintegration of the peace process and may spark another round of talks.

No shrinking violet, Michelle Obama, the 43-year-old wife of presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., told "Good Morning America" that she is a strong, professional woman and that her husband's ability to deal with her is one of the reasons Americans should elect him president. Called Obama's closest adviser and his daily reality check, Michelle was raised on the south side of Chicago and is a graduate of Princeton University and Harvard Law school. Today she juggles a career, duties as a wife and mother of two little girls and the role of campaigner. I don't want to paint...

Stick a fork in me