In his bimonthly contribution to our national shame, Rep. Tom MacArthur, R-3rd Dist., has decided that the nutrition of New Jersey children doesn't rank as highly as crop subsidies on his list of priorities.

Donald Trump's chief ally in South Jersey helped the House pass the Farm Bill, which is partly another attempt to humiliate the working poor, as it will take food assistance away from more than 2 million Americans.

MacArthur was the only member of New Jersey's congressional delegation to sign this bill, which will place harsher requirements for recipients of food stamps, now known as SNAP, one of the most efficient and important federal programs we have.

SNAP helps 42 million people afford a nutritionally adequate diet, and in our state, it reaches 877,000 individuals - nearly half of them children - in the average month.

But this bill will take SNAP benefits away from 35,000 people in our state, according to a study by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

The Republicans claim they want to encourage work among more SNAP participants, but as CBPP president Robert Greenstein put it, "the bill is likely to leave many people who face substantial barriers to work with neither earnings nor food assistance."

Indeed, most people who participate in SNAP are workers, and the majority of those who don't work are children, the elderly and disabled, students, or caretakers.

According to data from the New Jersey Anti-Hunger Coalition, 77 percent of SNAP recipients in MacArthur's district are working poor, and some will undoubtedly lose their benefits.

The bill will undergo changes in the Senate, but the Republican majority in the House is eager to carve holes public safety net. And MacArthur is in lockstep, demonstrating his loyalty to dysfunctional House leadership and an inept White House while undermining the interests of his own constituents.

He was the only member of our state delegation to support the Republican tax bill that severely limits the state and local tax deduction, which will devastate many New Jerseyans.

He was one of the few who voted to repeal the Affordable Care Act and replace it with a system that would have left 23 million more Americans without health care.

Now he has decided that hungry kids are an afterthought, especially with Trump and his Vichy sheep in Congress looking for new leadership next year - that is, if they hold the House and if MacArthur keeps his seat. Month by month, vote by vote, that seems less certain than it did a year ago, and we know 35,000 hungry people who are grateful for that.

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