A Service of UA Little Rock
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Getting A Jump; Pryor Blasts Cotton Before Race Begins

The 2014 U.S. Senate matchup between Democrat Mark Pryor and Republican Tom Cotton hasn’t even officially been set, but the rhetorical battle is already raging.

Cotton, the first-term congressman from the fourth district, is widely expected to throw his hat in the ring this week against Pryor, who is considered one of the most vulnerable senators up for re-election in next year’s mid-terms.

Cotton recently took a stand against continuing the long-standing practice of attaching funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)—better known as Food Stamps—to the farm bill.

He is the only member of the Arkansas delegation, including three other Republicans, who voted with the majority in the House to separate food stamps from the farm bill. SNAP expenditures have exploded in the last four years and now eat up 80 percent of the farm bill.

The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reports Pryor hit Cotton hard for that at the Arkansas Rice Expo in Stuttgart, saying the bill the House sent over is—quote—“un-passable” by the Democrat-run Senate.

Food Stamps were attached to the farm bill in the 1940s to gain support from both rural and urban legislators.

David Wallace was a reporter and anchor for UA Little Rock Public Radio from 1991 to March 2021.