House Republicans on Monday introduced a food stamp reform bill that they say will cut $40 billion from the program over 10 years.
The move sets up a dramatic debate and vote on the bill on Thursday, with the fate of the stalled farm bill likely hanging in the balance.
The House Rules Committee announced a meeting on Wednesday on HR 3102.
The bill contains twice as much in cuts as the House Agriculture Committee originally sought for the program and it was devised by a task force led by House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) after an integrated farm bill failed on the House floor this summer.
The House later passed a bill just dealing with the rest of the farm bill, including crop subsidies and crop insurance, before the August recess.
Rural Republicans appeared torn on the new bill, which has 10 times the level of cuts to the food stamp program as the Senate-passed farm bill. The difference could make it impossible to complete a planned House-Senate farm bill conference.
Which, if you've been paying attention, is the point. Republicans are sick and tired of seeing Obama win, and this time with Mitch McConnell facing a real Tea Party challenge and Orange Julius facing revolt, the wheels could come off the government as soon as October 1.
The question then is will the GOP be forced back to reality and cave before the debt ceiling blows up two or three weeks later. If that doesn't happen, then serious chaos ensues. It's conceivable too that a shutdown within weeks of the debt ceiling deadline may be the leverage the GOP thinks it needs to get major concessions from the White House and Senate Dems on everything.
We'll see.
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