Yesterday the Senate passed a domestic spending bill that included $10 billion for education. The bill goes to the House next week and will pass.
The catch?
To pay for it, $12 billion will be cut from the federal food stamp program.
In yesterday’s post I blamed Republicans and Blue Dog Democrats. They insisted that any domestic spending had to come from dollars allocated somewhere else in the budget. But the real culprit is Arne Duncan.
Early in July Congressman David Obey of Wisconsin proposed paying for the education bill by cutting a part of money allocated to Race to the Top. How much. A measly 15%.
But Duncan and his patron President Obama would have none of that. Nobody was touching Race to the Top money. Let the poor go without food, but students must be tested! Schools must be closed! Teachers must be fired!
It was Duncan who then proposed cutting food stamps to pay for the school funding bill.
Their line of argument was, well, the cost of food relative to what we thought it would be has come down, so people on food stamps are getting a pretty good deal in comparison to what we thought they were going to get. Well isn’t that nice. Some poor bastard is going to get a break for a change.
Fred Klonsky 