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Farm subsidies-loving congressman wants to cut food stamps

One Republican is using the Bible to say the hungry should just go hungry.

One Republican is using the Bible to say the hungry should just go hungry.

Tea Party Congressman Stephen Fincher of Tennessee quoted a verse from Book of Thessalonians in defense of cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, better known as food stamps. "The one who is unwilling to work shall not eat,” said Fincher during a House Agriculture Committee meeting for a markup of the Federal Agriculture Reform and Risk Management Act.

Approximately 45 percent of the beneficiaries of food stamps are children. A while the bill he is voting for would cut food stamps for the neediest of Americans, Fincher himself is the recipient of major government assistance. The congressman has received over $3.5 million directly from the government in agriculture subsidies.

msnbc’s Lawrence O’Donnell called out Fincher’s hypocrisy during his Rewrite segment on Wednesday, and why he seems to get away with it.

“Congressman Steve Fincher gets away with this socialistic thievery for two reasons: One, Republicans and Democrats in Congress love socialism much more than they admit,” said O’Donnell. “No socialist program gets more unbridled bipartisan support than agriculture socialism, our single worst and stupid and most inefficient form of socialism in this country. And two, there is no law against conflict of interest in the Congress.”

O’Donnell said “there should be a special place in the congressional hall of shame for Stephen Fincher” over his willingness “to take food out of the mouths of children as long as he can still use government money to enrich himself.”