Vote Alert: Pass a trillion-dollar crony capitalist farm bill

Thanks to a small band of conservatives in the House of Representatives, the Republican majority in Congress was stopped from passing the farm bill, another massive piece of promise-breaking legislation.

When Republicans gained control of Congress in 2014, they promised to fix many of the problems that plagued the 2014 version of this monstrous conglomeration of the nation’s food stamp program and several crony capitalist agriculture subsidies. Four years later, with a Republican president, the House of Representatives moved to consider a new, nearly 700-page farm bill that kept in place the old bill’s problems and increased spending while they were at it.

The bill is chock-full of government handouts, bailouts, subsidies, and regulations that favor big agribusiness in America at the expense of the taxpayer. This bill touches every sector of the American economy, from commodities, subsidies for high-speed internet, and price controls on sugar and milk to tariffs and food stamps, creating market distortions and spending taxpayer dollars like drunken leftists. Yet so-called “free market” Republicans would have left these most of these programs in place or even expanded them in this bill.

One key promise Republicans made when they only controlled the House was to separate food stamps from agriculture programs and create two bills. This wasn’t even up for discussion. Supporters of the farm bill will claim that the House GOP successfully added work requirements to the food stamp program, but the requirements are too weak to be effective. There are exemptions for many individuals, and states would have additional flexibility to exempt other beneficiaries. Counterproductively, the bureaucracy required to implement these work requirement changes would negate the savings to the government from getting people off food stamps.

And what is the cost of these broken promises? Nearly $1 trillion.

The House of Representatives voted to reject the farm bill on May 18, 2018, at 12:03 p.m. in a roll call vote of 198 — 213.

To see how your elected officials stack up or other votes that comprise the Liberty Score, view our full scorecard here.

CR position: NO

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U.S. House

 YEAs — 198

Abraham

Aderholt

Allen

Amodei

Arrington

Babin

Bacon

Banks (IN)

Barletta

Barr

Barton

Bergman

Bilirakis

Bishop (MI)

Bishop (UT)

Black

Blackburn

Blum

Bost

Brady (TX)

Brooks (AL)

Brooks (IN)

Buchanan

Bucshon

Burgess

Byrne

Calvert

Carter (GA)

Carter (TX)

Chabot

Cheney

Coffman

Cole

Collins (GA)

Collins (NY)

Comer

Comstock

Conaway

Cook

Costello (PA)

Cramer

Crawford

Culberson

Curtis

Davis, Rodney

Denham

DeSantis

DesJarlais

Diaz-Balart

Donovan

Duffy

Duncan (SC)

Dunn

Emmer

Estes (KS)

Faso

Ferguson

Fleischmann

Flores

Fortenberry

Foxx

Gallagher

Garrett

Gianforte

Gibbs

Goodlatte

Gowdy

Granger

Graves (GA)

Graves (LA)

Graves (MO)

Griffith

Grothman

Guthrie

Handel

Harper

Hartzler

Hensarling

Herrera Beutler

Hice, Jody B.

Higgins (LA)

Hill

Holding

Hollingsworth

Hudson

Huizenga

Hultgren

Hunter

Hurd

Jenkins (KS)

Jenkins (WV)

Johnson (LA)

Johnson (OH)

Johnson, Sam

Joyce (OH)

Kelly (MS)

Kelly (PA)

King (IA)

Kinzinger

Knight

Kustoff (TN)

LaHood

LaMalfa

Lamborn

Latta

Lesko

Lewis (MN)

Long

Loudermilk

Love

Lucas

Luetkemeyer

MacArthur

Marchant

Marino

Marshall

Mast

McCarthy

McCaul

McHenry

McKinley

McMorris Rodgers

McSally

Messer

Mitchell

Moolenaar

Mooney (WV)

Mullin

Newhouse

Noem

Norman

Nunes

Olson

Palazzo

Palmer

Paulsen

Pearce

Pittenger

Poe (TX)

Poliquin

Ratcliffe

Reed

Reichert

Renacci

Rice (SC)

Roby

Roe (TN)

Rogers (AL)

Rokita

Rooney, Francis

Rooney, Thomas J.

Roskam

Ross

Rouzer

Royce (CA)

Russell

Rutherford

Scalise

Schweikert

Scott, Austin

Sensenbrenner

Sessions

Shimkus

Shuster

Simpson

Smith (MO)

Smith (NE)

Smith (TX)

Smucker

Stefanik

Stewart

Stivers

Taylor

Tenney

Thompson (PA)

Thornberry

Tipton

Trott

Turner

Wagner

Walberg

Walden

Walker

Walorski

Walters, Mimi

Weber (TX)

Webster (FL)

Wenstrup

Westerman

Williams

Wilson (SC)

Wittman

Womack

Woodall

Yoho

Young (AK)

Young (IA)

Zeldin

NAYs — 213

Adams

Aguilar

Amash

Barragán

Bass

Beatty

Bera

Beyer

Biggs

Bishop (GA)

Blumenauer

Blunt Rochester

Bonamici

Brady (PA)

Brat

Brownley (CA)

Budd

Bustos

Butterfield

Capuano

Carbajal

Cárdenas

Carson (IN)

Cartwright

Castor (FL)

Castro (TX)

Chu, Judy

Cicilline

Clark (MA)

Clarke (NY)

Cleaver

Clyburn

Cohen

Connolly

Cooper

Correa

Costa

Courtney

Crist

Crowley

Cuellar

Cummings

Davidson

Davis (CA)

Davis, Danny

DeFazio

DeGette

Delaney

DeLauro

DelBene

Demings

DeSaulnier

Deutch

Dingell

Doggett

Doyle, Michael F.

Duncan (TN)

Ellison

Engel

Eshoo

Espaillat

Esty (CT)

Evans

Fitzpatrick

Foster

Frankel (FL)

Frelinghuysen

Fudge

Gabbard

Gaetz

Gallego

Garamendi

Gomez

Gonzalez (TX)

Gosar

Gottheimer

Green, Al

Green, Gene

Grijalva

Gutiérrez

Hanabusa

Harris

Hastings

Heck

Higgins (NY)

Himes

Hoyer

Huffman

Issa

Jackson Lee

Jayapal

Jeffries

Johnson (GA)

Johnson, E. B.

Jones

Jordan

Kaptur

Katko

Keating

Kelly (IL)

Kennedy

Khanna

Kihuen

Kildee

Kilmer

Kind

King (NY)

Krishnamoorthi

Kuster (NH)

Lamb

Lance

Langevin

Larsen (WA)

Larson (CT)

Lawrence

Lawson (FL)

Lee

Levin

Lewis (GA)

Lipinski

LoBiondo

Loebsack

Lofgren

Lowenthal

Lowey

Lujan Grisham, M.

Luján, Ben Ray

Lynch

Maloney, Carolyn B.

Maloney, Sean

Massie

Matsui

McClintock

McCollum

McEachin

McGovern

McNerney

Meadows

Meeks

Meng

Moore

Moulton

Murphy (FL)

Nadler

Napolitano

Neal

Nolan

O'Halleran

O'Rourke

Pallone

Panetta

Pascrell

Payne

Pelosi

Perlmutter

Perry

Peters

Peterson

Pingree

Pocan

Posey

Price (NC)

Quigley

Raskin

Rice (NY)

Richmond

Rohrabacher

Ros-Lehtinen

Rosen

Rothfus

Roybal-Allard

Ruiz

Ruppersberger

Rush

Ryan (OH)

Ryan (WI)

Sánchez

Sanford

Sarbanes

Schakowsky

Schiff

Schrader

Scott (VA)

Scott, David

Serrano

Sewell (AL)

Shea-Porter

Sherman

Sinema

Sires

Smith (NJ)

Smith (WA)

Soto

Suozzi

Swalwell (CA)

Takano

Thompson (CA)

Thompson (MS)

Titus

Tonko

Torres

Upton

Vargas

Veasey

Vela

Velázquez

Visclosky

Wasserman Schultz

Waters, Maxine

Watson Coleman

Welch

Wilson (FL)

Yarmuth

NOT VOTING — 17

Boyle, Brendan F.

Brown (MD)

Buck

Clay

Curbelo (FL)

Gohmert

Labrador

Lieu, Ted

Norcross

Polis

Rogers (KY)

Schneider

Speier

Tsongas

Valadao

Walz

Yoder