the bill. 24 democrats voting for the bill. it was supposed to be all but certain, house speaker john boehner on tuesday all but guaranteed passage. what happened here, andy? we saw another instance of the republican leadership in the house, not having control and not being able to corral the more conservative members of their caucus. house speaker boehner and house speaker cantor were confident this farm bill would pass as they have for other farm bills in the past. the farm bill is usually bipartisan. it is in, you vote on it and it goes, but in this case more conservative members of the caucus just could not live with this bill. they didn t think that the steep food stamp cuts, $20.5 billion cuts, were steep enough. and so they revolted just as they have on issues in the past we have seen under speaker boehner. steve, one would think that the votes would have been
he showed me his grocery bill. he s been pasta with tuna with a little flavor the the last few nights. he will continue to do so. he said what s the most difficult part of this is when i m done on wednesday, this will be over for me but it won t be over for those on food stamps. he s part of a broader coalition doing this to protest the house farm bill will cuts $20.5 billion in food assistance programs over the next decade. a significant cut and the house members are hoping some kind of public one like this will help to cause some of those republicans to pause before they vote yes for this bill. i m thinking about what it would be like to live on less than $32 a week in groceries. that s extraordinary. i m glad for the example he s setting. how the man of steel became a marketing hero.
keep the $20.5 billion from going away. let me ask you this, congressman. you unpacked your bags last night. very little food showing dramatically what you can do with $31.50 a week. explain to the audience what you were able to buy. well, for i focused on breakfast first. i bought two packs of bacon, because i could get two packs for one. and that s going to basically be my meat for the day. i did bring i did buy some hot dogs also, maybe about eight of those hot dogs. then i ve got some waffles in the morning, some syrup in the morning. some oatmeal in the evenings. and also some bananas and some
work, in fact, work full-time and still can t afford enough within their budget to eat. this is part of why it s so important. not just to feed people but because an economic stimulus effect, right. when you get a snap benefit, you have to spend it on food. that has an economic impact on our economy. it also, food is produced by farmers. it helps our farmers. this the way people try to pit farmers versus snap, i think, it s a false choice. look, the bottom line is, we have 50 million people in america who are hungry. 17 million are children. the fact that congress would vote to cut $20.5 billion out of snap in a farm bill, means that this farm bill, if passed as it is will make hunger worse in america. that s not only bad for people struggling, there s also a cost to hunger. there s a cost to kids who don t learn in school because they re hungry. lost productivity in the workplace.
but it correctly predicted every state with florida still undecided. the biggest money loser in the general election campaign was casino mogul sheldon addleson who spent $53 million on the romney effort as well as funding senate and house races off. of his candidates lost except one. nevada senator-elect dean heller defeated addleson foe shelly berkeley, a democrat. forbes put it in perspective. $53 million may sound like a chuck of change, it s not much for a guy worth $20.5 billion. imagine an average person with $100,000 net worth, buying a pair of shoes for $250. you d care if you lost them, but you wouldn t be ruined. finally one kentucky candidate learned the hard way that every vote counts. robert mcdonald finished in a dead heat with to livia bilou for time seat on the