Farm bill really ‘food-stamp bill,’ Cotton contends

Pryor: Rival let law expire

Republican Senate candidate and current U.S. Rep. Tom Cotton on Tuesday defended his vote against the farm bill at a candidate forum hosted by the Arkansas Farm Bureau, the state’s largest agricultural advocacy organization.

Cotton, who is from Dardanelle, said the federal legislation he voted against in January didn’t do enough to cut spending or overhaul the national food-stamp program, which he said made up about 79 percent of the $100 billion legislation.

“I know it divides people in this room,” he said. “In the end, I thought the bill was a bad deal for Arkansans. Why is that? This farm bill did not deserve that name, it should have been called the food-stamp bill … it needs desperate reform.”

Democratic incumbent Sen. Mark Pryor appeared in a recorded video message, which he sent to the bureau because of a previous engagement in southwest Arkansas. Much of the three-minute message was spent criticizing Cotton’s vote.

“My opponent, Congressman Cotton, turned a deaf ear on farmers and families by allowing the farm bill to expire by voting against a comprehensive farm bill not once, but twice,” Pryor said.

Cotton voted against the farm bill initially, before agreeing to vote for a version that would have separated the food stamp program into separate legislation. Cotton was the only member of the Arkansas congressional delegation to vote against the final version of the omnibus bill that passed in January.

Cotton said Tuesday that his vote was a hard decision, but in the end the bill that passed did not include enough changes to the food-stamp program.

“There’s still no asset test, which means millionaires can get food stamps,” he told the audience.

The Democratic Party of Arkansas immediately tweeted a response and emailed a news release to reporters challenging the statement. The news release notes that people cannot qualify for food stamps if their household income is more than 130 percent of the federal poverty level.

PolitiFact, a website run by the Tampa Bay Times that analyzes candidate statements and commercials, has disputed claims from other legislators saying millionaires could game the system, calling the idea “ridiculously improbable.”

In his video message, Pryor said Cotton seemed “more interested in listening to the Washington special interests funding his campaign.”

Cotton also criticized Pryor in his speech, calling the incumbent a “back-bench senator” and saying the state needs a senator who is “off the sidelines and in the game.”

Neither candidate faces a primary election challenger on May 20. The general election is Nov. 4.

Arkansas, Pages 10 on 04/23/2014

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