WASHINGTON — One of the first things U.S. Sen. John Fetterman will do when he returns to Washington next week is wield the gavel at a Senate Agriculture subcommittee hearing.
Mr. Fetterman, D-Pa., chairs the subcommittee on food and nutrition, which is holding a hearing Wednesday on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, formerly known as food stamps.
“I’m very excited to chair my first subcommittee hearing next week,” Mr. Fetterman said on Twitter. “We’ll be talking about protecting SNAP, fighting for PA’s farmers in the Farm Bill, and much more.
The lawmaker, who had survived a stroke last year during his successful Senate campaign, checked himself into a hospital in February to be treated for clinical depression. He was released on March 31 and his office said he would return to work next week when the House and Senate come back from their recess.
Federal farm programs expire Sept. 30, and both the House and Senate Agriculture committees are beginning work on new legislation to renew them. Such measures include nutrition programs and subsidies for farmers, creating a broad constituency of support in Congress.
Mr. Fetterman discussed the upcoming legislation Wednesday with farmers from Beaver and Lawrence Counties, his office said Thursday. He also toured a dairy farm in Enon Valley that dates back to the time of the American Revolution.
In other Washington news:
More proof that Pennsylvania does very well in the federal budget
A study released Thursday by New York state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli found that Pennsylvania, on a per person basis, is in the top half of states in receiving more money from Washington than they pay in federal taxes.
Pennsylvania received $9,285 more per person than it paid in federal taxes during the 2021 fiscal year, ranking 21st. That was above the national average of $8,050.
That came out to $1.84 for every $1 paid in federal taxes.
New Mexico led all states with $3.69 for every $1 paid in taxes, while New Hampshire trailed every other state with a surplus at $1.23.
The study is similar to one by the State University of New York’s Rockefeller Institute of Government, which found that Pennsylvania had a bigger surplus from 2015 to 2021 than all but three states.
Mike Kelly joins Republicans in opposing abortion pill
U.S. Rep. Mike Kelly, R-Butler, was the only Pennsylvanian among the 68 Senate and House Republicans who lined up behind U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk this week.
The federal judge in Texas, nominated by then-President Donald Trump, last week overruled a two-decades-old Food and Drug Administration decision approving the drug mifepristone, which is used for medication abortions in the first weeks of a pregnancy.
“Allowing abortion-on-demand until birth violates every principle of human decency,” Mr. Kelly said on Twitter. “This abortion pill has proven to be deadly.”
Studies have repeatedly shown that mifepristone is safe.
Mr. Kelly and other lawmakers urged the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals to uphold Judge Kacsmaryk’s ruling. Late Wednesday, a three-judge panel allowed the continued use of mifepristone, but ordered that restrictions on its use that were rolled back in recent years be restored. The Biden administration is appealing that to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Mr. Fetterman criticized Judge Kacsmaryk’s ruling in a fundraising email, using a barnyard epithet to describe it, and promised to “defend abortion access” and “block any abortion ban that comes up for a vote.”
Jonathan D. Salant: jsalant@post-gazette.com; @JDSalant
First Published: April 13, 2023, 7:59 p.m.
Updated: April 14, 2023, 10:04 a.m.
