House Republicans on Wednesday made several attempts to cut key food and nutrition programs favored by Democrats, and set up a series of roll call votes later in the day.

When amendment consideration began at 1 p.m. on the agriculture appropriations bill, Reps. Paul Broun (R-Ga.) and Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.) introduced two amendments to cut the Women, Infants and Children (WIC) program. Broun's amendment would cut this program by 10 percent, and Foxx's would cut $82.5 million.

Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) blasted the “far right of the Republican party” on Tuesday for blocking the extension of a program that helps U.S. workers who need assistance after losing their jobs as a result of trade agreements.

“I can't believe that the far right of the Republican party doesn’t seem to think that we have any responsibility for people who lose their jobs because of our actions here in this town,” Brown said. “That’s morally reprehensible.”

Rep. Ted Poe (R-Texas) on Wednesday sharply criticized Iraq's refusal to help pay for the ongoing costs of U.S. military occupation in that country with oil revenues.

Speaking on the House floor, Poe said he raised this question with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki during his visit to Iraq last week, but was rejected.

"The war has cost billions [of dollars] and thousands of American lives," Poe said. "Since we are building Iraq, and have given them a free democracy, it seems only right that Iraq at least consider paying for part of the cost with future oil revenues.

Sen. McConnell criticized President Obama for a joke he made about the economy earlier this week.

Bipartisan amendment from Sens. Hatch and Baucus would allow Congress to pass laws to protect the American flag.

The House meets at 10 a.m. for speeches and then at noon to resume consideration of H.R. 2112, the agriculture appropriations bill.

Members worked until almost midnight Tuesday on amendments, and are expected to continue this work starting at noon. Votes are expected to start on various proposals in the late afternoon, and final votes are expected by 5:30 p.m.

Read more...

Comments

 

Both members have argued that Obama failed to seek congressional authority for Libyan military actions

As of 10:45 p.m., the House had made its way through several amendments to the agriculture appropriations bill, although they started by approving a meaningless amendment meant only to generate debate.

By vote vote, members approved an amendment from Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) that would add and then subtract the same amount of money to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). The amendment was meant to generate debate on the CFTC, which the GOP bill would cut by $30 million.

The already tense debate over funding for agricultural programs got even more combative Tuesday night, after a Democratic member said Republicans are difficult to debate because they "make up stuff" and even lie to win their arguments.

Rep. Mel Watt (D-NC) said he does not often debate on the House floor, for three reasons. The first is because Republicans are "tone deaf," and are "not really listening to what anybody is saying to them." Secondly, he said they don't care about the substance of the bill up tonight on the floor, which he said would force women and children to go hungry.

"And third, they just make up stuff, you know," he said. "They have this, you know, if we repeat it enough, it's got to be true, and we'll convince the American people of about anything if we just keep saying it over and over again. Or they lie about it and they have convenient memories that forget that it was President Bush…"