The $30 billion price tag on tighter border security that is being proposed in the Senate’s immigration bill is not worth the money, Rep. Frank Pallone said Saturday. Instead, he added, use those dollars to avoid further cuts to the food stamp program that benefit millions of Americans.
“We’re spending all this money on fencing when it could be used to pay for the extra food stamps,” the New Jersey Democrat told msnbc’s Alex Witt. “I don’t know if the fencing is really worth it.”
The House voted down the farm bill on Thursday which would have cut $20.5 billion to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), known as food stamps. Pallone warned that the Senate’s immigration bill could suffer a similar fate with Republicans “putting so many road blocks in the way” in the form of toxic amendments that could bring the entire legislation down.
Pallone however sounded optimistic that immigration reform had a chance of passing through Congress. “We do have to be careful that it provides a pathway to citizenship that’s not to difficult,” he said.
Maria Perez