With the dismantling of the State of North Carolina pretty much complete here at the end off the legislative session, wonks from Murphy to Manteo are turning their eyes to Washington DC. Perhaps the biggest piece of legislation on the docket is the “Farm Bill.” While this bill sets agricultural policy, it does a whole lot more. Of special concern to those of us who work to end hunger are the parts of the bill that affect what’s called “SNAP” and used to be called food stamps.
So, the current status on the Farm Bill is that the Senate has passed a version which cuts $4.5 billion out of the SNAP budget that is aimed primarily at supplemental heating assistance for people receiving SNAP benefits. I’m not sure if that is $4.5b per year or $4.5b over the 5 years that the Farm Bill covers. In either case, it represents about .5 to 1% of the SNAP budget, which was $78 billion in 2012. There is more info on the Senate Bill here: http://org2.democracyinaction.org/o/5118/p/salsa/web/common/public/content?content_item_KEY=10226
The House has not yet passed a bill, but the one on the floor has been strongly influenced by the budget proposed by Paul Ryan and calls for $133 billion in cuts to SNAP over 10 years. This represents about a 17% cut over that time period. The Ryan bill also calls for block-granting the funds to the states and restricting eligibility in new ways. There is a lot of wonk about the house bill here: http://www.cbpp.org/cms/index.cfm?fa=view&id=3717. Apparently, the House Ag Committee has approved a proposal that would cut an additional $33 billion from the SNAP program on top if the Ryan cuts. Action on the full bill in the House is expected during the week of July 11.
Assuming that the House passes a bill in the next several weeks, there will have to be a Conference Committee to sort out the differences between the two bills. That the House will pass a bill or that a Conference would come up with a compromise are not givens. It does seem, however, that the battle lines are being drawn around the fundamental structure and eligibility requirements of the program and that everyone seems to view some cuts as inevitable.
In addition to SNAP, of course, there is The Emergency Food Assistance Program which provides commodities to emergency food providers. The House proposal does not affect the TEFAP program in any way (in fact, it does not change any other Agriculture Department programs, but takes all of its cuts from SNAP.) The Senate bill proposes an increase of approximately $170 million to TEFAP.
There will be a lot more action on this bill in the coming weeks. I’m hoping to do a bit more wonk soon to bring this data down to the local level.