The long-stalled farm bill took a step forward in the House of Representatives last month as a Republican-led proposal made it out of the agriculture committee.
The clock is ticking as the extension of the 2018 Farm Bill, which expired eight months ago, ends in September.
Yet food assistance will likely be a flashpoint in the discussions ahead.
More than 41 million Americans rely on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program monthly to put food on the table. The program takes a lot of funding – about 80% of the farm bill’s massive budget goes to SNAP.
House farm bill proposal
The House draft suggests placing limits on how the Thrifty Food Plan is updated in the future. The Thrifty Food Plan is a basket of foods that represents a “nutritious, practical, cost-effective diet prepared at home” for a family of four, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
The money people receive through SNAP is calculated by how much that basket of food costs.
Right now, the plan is updated every five years based on food prices, food composition data, consumer data and dietary standards. The new proposal suggests updating the cost of the plan only for inflation.
According to House Agriculture Committee Chairman Glenn “GT” Thompson – a Republican from Pennsylvania — the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates the limit would cut SNAP by $30 billion over the next 10 years.
“The cut would take away a day’s worth of benefits from the participants each month, then it would rise to two days of benefits each month,” said Democratic Rep. Jahana Hayes from Connecticut during discussions. “You may think losing one or two days of food is not significant. But I do think it’s quite significant for a low-income family trying to make ends meet.”
But Republican Rep. Mark Alford of Missouri said he’s focused on making the program more efficient, not slashing benefits.
“Democrats feel like we’re trying to cut the program. And that’s not the case,” Alford said. “If we can move to a program that has more integrity, more health benefits, it is going to be greater for our nation and greater for our taxpayers.”
Alford points to parts of the bill that would allow frozen and canned produce to be covered, create an accountability office and expand eligibility for the program.
Other SNAP proposals in the House’s farm bill draft would:
• Add frozen, fresh, canned and dried fruits and vegetables as SNAP-eligible products
