White House threatens to veto House food stamp bill

{mosads}Democrats are hoping that 17 Republicans will defect on the bill, developed by House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) after he could not get enough Republicans to vote for a farm bill that contained $20 billion in cuts to food stamps. 

On Wednesday, Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.) told reporters he was a “no” on the bill.

“It’s just too much, too quick, and we can’t be talking about possibly shutting the government down at the same time we’re cutting food stamps. We have to do one thing at a time,” he said. House Republicans on Wednesday unveiled a gambit to force Obama to defund ObamaCare by attaching legislation to do that to a must-pass spending bill. 

Members of the whip team on the food stamp bill say they are not worried the vote will fail. 

“It’ll pass,” said Rep. Mike Conaway (R-Texas) said. Conaway is eager to complete the bill in order to jumpstart a House-Senate farm bill conference committee and complete the 2013 farm bill by packaging the new cuts into an integrated piece of legislation.