GOP Lawmaker: Use Food Stamp Funds to Pay for Trump's Border Wall

U.S. Rep. Steve King (R-IA) rustled feathers this morning (July 12) when he proposed a radical way to fund President Donald Trump's promised border wall.

When asked by CNN's Alisyn Camerota if he was comfortable using $1.6 billion - not from Mexico, but from the American people - to pay for the wall, King responded:

border wall"Absolutely yes, and more. I'd throw another five billion on the pile, and I would find half of a billion dollars of that right out of Planned Parenthood's budget!"

The rest, however, would be drawn from a program over 45.4 million people depend on...

We're talking about SNAP, or the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. SNAP provides benefits like food stamps and nutritional education to struggling, low-income families.

You see, according to King, many American families on SNAP don't need the federal aid at all.

"The rest of [the money] could come out of food stamps and the entitlements that are being spread out for the people that haven't worked in three generations," said King.

He also argued that because food stamps were created to fight malnutrition in America, and the nation now suffers from an obesity crisis, the program is counterproductive.

"Now we have a problem of obesity," he said. "And when you match up the [electronic benefit transfer] card with what the scales say on some of the folks, I think it's worth looking at. [Former First Lady] Michelle Obama looked at it, Republicans should be able to look at it too."

And that's not all -- check out the video below for the rest of King's statement:

Video

Rep. Steve King's Solution to the Border Wall:

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