Last week the most important piece of legislation for this region went down in defeat when the House voted down the Farm Bill 215-198.
If you read the Associated Press headline and story, you might think it was House Republicans who killed the Farm Bill with words like “conservative revolt” embedded in the headline.
In news talk, this is called “burying the lede.” The lede is the is the opening sentence or paragraph of the article, summarizing the most important points. Here is the lede for the Farm Bill story: Democrats in the House hate Trump so much they have deserted the American farmer…every single one of them.
Their justification? The Farm Bill would have driven two million people off of the food stamp program, as if this is a bad thing. What Democrats fail to mention is the bill would have driven them off of food stamps and right into jobs or job training.
Congressman Beto O’Rourke also turned his back on West Texas farmers.
There seems no underlying principle motivating Democrats except their hatred for Donald Trump. A successful Farm Bill now helps Trump and Republicans in the mid-term elections.
Need a sub-header? Just a little more outrage? Democratic nominee for Senate, Congressman Beto O’Rourke, who has been to West Texas four times pandering for votes as Ag’s new BFF, also turned his back on Texas farmers with Nancy Pelosi and the rest of his fellow Dems.
Thanks are due freshman Congressman Jodey Arrington for his work on the Farm Bill and who expressed his confidence the bill will still pass. “I have no doubt that things will be worked out in short order, and the Farm Bill, in its current form, will pass the House in the next few weeks,” said Arrington in a written release from his office.
Let’s all hope he’s right.