Here’s a bit of good news:
Opposition by Democrats to huge cuts in the food stamp program helped lead to the defeat of the House farm bill on Thursday, raising questions about financing for the nation’s farm and nutrition programs this year.
The vote, which was 234 to 195 to defeat it, came a year after House leaders refused to bring the five-year, $940 billion measure to the floor because conservative lawmakers who wanted deeper cuts in the food stamp program would not support it.
I’m torn — on the one hand, passing the farm bill was such an important benchmark of competency for Speaker Boehner that I’m tempted to chortle over such an abysmal failure. But on the other, less immature hand, the farm bill as it was constituted was a travesty, with the massive cuts to food stamps being just the most conspicuous example.
I think I’ll go with chortling.