Bob Franken

The latest action in the tea party-controlled House of Representatives makes it abundantly clear that the conservatives care only about the mega-wealthy corporations that produce food and not a whit about the 47 million people who need help to afford enough to eat. How else to explain their insistence on pulling the food-stamp program out of the $195 billion farm bill subsidies for massive agriculture conglomerates?

It was necessary, they argued, because the harsh right that controls House majority Republicans is intent on gutting what’s now called SNAP — Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Prog...