New Farm Bill, but Same Debate on Food Stamps
Watching a farm bill debate is getting boring, especially after you’ve reported on ten previous ones. This time, it is the same divisive argument as recent bills: funding for SNAP benefits (food stamps). And it always ends up with lawmakers plowing more money for the program, and that will likely be the case this time. Although lawmakers may try to cut SNAP benefits as part of the farm bill due in 2023, “we’re not going backwards,” said Senate Ag Committee chair Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) at a food conference on Thursday. Deadline for portions of the bill is Sept. 30, although “oftentimes there has to be an extension. So that may happen,” she said.
Recall that House Republicans proposed large cuts in SNAP in the 2014 and 2018 farm bills, without success. Stabenow correctly noted the Nov. 8 general election would determine the dynamics for the new farm bill. “It depends on who is in the majority in the House and the Senate… whether we’re going to have fights around going forwards or backwards,” said Stabenow at the Consumer Federation of America conference. “So, we’re not going to go backwards. But we’re going to need your help to make sure we don’t.”
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Nutrition funding, heavily skewed by SNAP, accounts 84% of farm bill spending.
In an interesting exchange, Stabenow rejected a suggestion by an audience member to ban the purchase of sugary beverages with SNAP benefits as a pilot project against obesity. “I don’t think low-income people should be told they can’t do something that everybody else can do.” More than four of every 10 Americans is obese, according to CDC data.
