Thursday, August 25, 2005
Demonstrators ask Goodlatte not to cut food stamp program
Goodlatte said the food stamp program was a better candidate for cuts than farm subsidies.
Nothing is out of the question when you're a congressional committee chairman.
Case in point: Wednesday on the Roanoke City Market.
The international Oxfam America development organization - the anti-poverty group with a hip reputation stoked by backers such as Coldplay lead singer Chris Martin - decided it was important enough to show up in U.S. Rep. Bob Goodlatte's hometown. The Republican chairs the House Agriculture Committee and is the first Roanoke Valley representative to hold such a post.
Congress is planning to cut $3 billion - or 1 percent annually - over five years from programs under the committee's jurisdiction, such as food stamps and farm subsidies. Oxfam, along with the Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy, fear that the federal food stamp budget is going to be cut, possibly as soon as next month. At a downtown news conference, they urged Goodlatte and other congressional leaders to support legislation that would cap what they called conglomerate-bloated U.S. farm subsidies at a lower amount - money that could account for the projected cut and would leave the food stamp program alone.
"Members of Congress need to look down at their What Would Jesus Do bracelets," said the Rev. Douglas Smith of the Interfaith Center. "Jesus would not cut food stamps."
But Congress just might.
Goodlatte, who said he only received an invitation to attend the Oxfam event late the night before, was making scheduled appearances in the Shenandoah Valley end of his district on Wednesday. In a late afternoon telephone interview, Goodlatte acknowledged that it was unusual for an organization like Oxfam to make an appearance in Roanoke.
But Goodlatte, a 13-year Congressional veteran who's done the political dance with many well-established lobbying groups, said he wasn't fazed by the groups' Roanoke news conference and called their position "extremist."
Goodlatte said he's already made a commitment not to cut farm subsidies, at least until a new farm bill is reworked in 2007. He said the food stamp program is the obvious place to look for the upcoming 1 percent annual cuts because it has a 6 percent to 8 percent yearly error rate involving fraud and other problems.
"This is nothing more than last-minute political posturing," he said of the Wednesday market event. "I have approached the process with an open mind, and I believe the committee's final recommendations will be balanced in terms of the impact they will have," he said.
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