MADISON, Wis. – In case you missed it, the Wisconsin Examiner’s Ruth Conniff details how Congressman Derrick Van Orden has broken his promise to reject cuts to SNAP by voting in favor of unprecedented cuts last week as a member of the House Agriculture Committee.
“Congressman Van Orden’s vote would make it tougher for the working families, families with children, veterans, and seniors he represents to put food on the table. No matter how many times he promised constituents that he wouldn’t support cuts to SNAP, when it came time to stand up for the program and his constituents by rejecting these harmful cuts, Van Orden voted in support of the largest SNAP cuts in history and even took credit for the plan,” said Opportunity Wisconsin Program Director Meghan Roh. “Despite claims during his opening statement that he would protect children and the most vulnerable from going hungry, he then voted against ensuring families with children, veterans, and those living in rural areas would not be affected by cuts. His votes would hurt Wisconsin families and farmers and make it tougher for our communities to succeed.”
Congressional Republicans have backed nearly $300 billion in cuts to SNAP, and continue to push for massive cuts to Medicaid, while searching for ways to pay for new tax breaks for the ultra-rich and big corporations. A vote on the full bill could come as soon as this week, where Congressman Van Orden could still stand up for his constituents and vote against cuts to SNAP as well as Medicaid.
Wisconsin Examiner: Van Orden’s flip-flop on SNAP hurts Wisconsin
By: Ruth Conniff
When he was campaigning for Congress in western Wisconsin, Republican U.S. Rep. Derrick Van Orden talked about growing up “in abject rural poverty,” raised by a single mom who relied on food stamps. As a result, he has said, he would never go along with cuts to food assistance.
“He sat down in my office when he first got elected and promised me he wouldn’t ever vote against SNAP because he grew up on it, supposedly,” Democratic U.S. Rep. Mark Pocan said in a phone interview as he was on his way home to Wisconsin from Washington this week.
But as Henry Redman reported, Van Orden voted for the Republican budget blueprint, which proposes more than $200 billion in cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) in order to make room for tax cuts for the very wealthy.
Still, after that vote, Van Orden issued a public statement warning against reckless cuts to SNAP that place “disproportionate burdens on rural states, where food insecurity is often more widespread,” and saying it is unfair to build a budget “on the backs of some of our most vulnerable populations, including hungry children. Period.”
Van Orden sits on the House Agriculture Committee, which was tasked with drawing up a specific plan to cut $230 billion from food assistance to pay for tax cuts. Van Orden reportedly balked at a cost-sharing plan that shifted 25% of the cost of the program to states, saying it was unfair to Wisconsin.
But then, on Wednesday night, Van Orden voted yes as the committee passed an unprecedented cut in federal funding for SNAP on a 29-25 vote.
Van Orden took credit for the plan, which ties cuts to state error rates in determining eligibility and benefit amounts for food assistance. According to WisPolitics, he declared at a House Ag Committee markup that “states are going to have to accept the fact that if they are not administering this program efficiently, that they’re going to have to pay a portion of the program that is equitable, and it makes sense and it is scaled.”
But states, including Wisconsin, don’t have money to make up the gap as the federal government, for the first time ever, withdraws hundreds of millions of dollars for nutrition assistance. Instead, they will reduce coverage, kick people off the program and hunger will increase. The ripple effects include a loss of about $30 billion for farmers who supply food for the program, Democrats on the Ag Committee report, and damage to the broader economy, since every $1 in SNAP benefits generates about $1.50 in economic activity. Grocery stores, food manufacturers rural communities will be hit particularly hard.
. . .
“He says one thing and does another,” Pocan says of Van Orden’s flip-flopping on SNAP. “He’s gone totally Washington.”
That’s too bad for the people left behind in rural Wisconsin, who will take the brunt of these unnecessary cuts.
