Omnibus Spending Bill Continues Funding Food Stamp Ads in Mexico

Article author: 
Matthew Boyle
Article publisher: 
Brietbart
Article date: 
14 January 2014
Article category: 
National News
Medium
Article Body: 

The omnibus spending bill before Congress continues to fund U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) advertising programs for food stamps in foreign countries like Mexico, Breitbart News has learned.

The bill was hashed out between House Appropriations Committee chairman Rep. Hal Rogers (R-KY) and Senate Appropriations Committee chairwoman Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-MD). The funding will continue despite claims in a document the House Appropriations Committee published that the bill contains a “prohibition” on such programs. Page three of this press document states regarding food stamps that the omnibus spending bill contains a "prohibition on advertisements or outreach with foreign governments."...

However, upon reading through the text of the bill and the bill summary explanatory document, there is no such “prohibition” included in it. Instead, the explanatory document that Rogers published just states that USDA is “strongly discouraged” from advertising food stamps programs with foreign governments...

In a July 18, 2012, letter to Vilsack, for instance, Sessions wrote that the USDA has not complied with oversight requests from his staff on this matter – and that the advertising of U.S. food stamps programs in foreign countries like Mexico represents a gross departure from food stamps’ original purpose...