Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, which issued a statement April 12, 2012, decrying the House Agriculture Committee’s vote to cut $33 billion from food stamps. “If there’s a more misguided, mean-spirited and counterproductive way to address decades of deficits in this country, the Mayors of the United States can’t think of one,” […]

The House Agriculture Committee is responsible for reauthorizing the Farm Bill. It is chaired by Rep. Frank D. Lucas.

Rep. Collin C. Peterson, D-Minn., is the House Agriculture Committee’s ranking minority member.

Rep. Frank D. Lucas, R-Okla., chairs the House Agriculture Committee.

The Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry passed the Agriculture Reform, Food and Jobs Act of 2012.  Debbie Stabenow is its chairwoman.

Sen. Thad Cochran, R-Miss., is the ranking minority member of the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee.

Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., chairs the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee.

Tom Vilsack is U.S. secretary of agriculture. See remarks he made in October 2011 about priorities for the 2012 farm bill.

Jacqueline Hagan is a distinguished professor of sociology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Her research interests include religion and migration. She is the author of Migration Miracle: Faith, Hope and Meaning on the Undocumented Journey.