The White House, bless them, has threatened to veto the Farm Bill if Congress passes the House version of the legislation, which cuts $2 billion a year from the food stamp program, instead of the Senate version, which contains a mere $400 in annual cuts.

The White House would prefer, if we are in a cutting mood, to cut direct subsidies to farmers and crop insurance, two longtime mainstays of the Farm Bill that have basically totally fucked up our entire food system for decades but that also have made a few giant food companies quite rich. Here is how House Republicans made their bill:

The bill, which costs nearly $100 billion a year, would save a total of about $4 billion annually, including the food stamp cuts. It would eliminate some subsidies while creating others, raising subsidy levels for several crops. It would expand the current crop insurance program and also create a new type of crop insurance that would kick in sooner than the paid insurance farmers have now.

Good one, guys. Good policy, good attempt at deficit reduction, good governing.

Food stamp enrollment has increased dramatically since the 1990s. To conservatives, the increase is prima facie evidence of fraud and excessive generosity. Fraud, abuse, and accidental overpayments, though, are at historic lows. The increase was intensified by the economic crisis, but it began with welfare reform. Clinton’s reform package imposed lifetime caps on benefits and was effectively “the end of welfare as we know it,” just like he promised. In response, people who formerly received cash benefits now had to rely on other support. Like the food stamp program, which was cut and then un-cut, because it’s also a boon to agribusiness.

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