The House Republican plan to convert the food-stamp program into a block grant would cut funding by $125 billion, or 34 percent, by 2025. The House is expected to vote this week on the proposal, which is wrapped into the House budget resolution for fiscal 2016. Debate is scheduled to begin today, with amendments offered on Wednesday. The conversion wouldn’t take effect until 2021. “Cuts of this magnitude would end food assistance for millions of low-income families, cut benefits for millions of households, or some combination of the two,” says the think tank Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
If states accommodate reduced funding by tightening eligibility standards, they would have to disqualify 11 million-12 million people, says CBPP. If they chose to cut benefit levels across the board, the average benefit per person would drop by $55 a month. At present, benefits are projected to average roughly $160 a month during that period (2021-25) by the Congressional Budget Office. “States would be left to decide whose benefits to reduce or terminate. They would have no good choice,” says CBPP.
A third way to achieve the cuts would be to reduce the income threshold for food stamps. If states took that route, the income limit would be set at 60 percent of the poverty level, now about $12,050 for a family of three. “This approach would eliminate eligibility for many working families, senior citizens, and people with disabilities,’ says CBPP.
The resolution approved by the House Budget Committee directs the Agriculture Committee to find $1 billion in budget savings over the next decade from USDA programs. The Budget Committee says a block grant will give states the flexibility to run programs more in tune with local needs. A USDA report says spending on public-nutrition programs dropped by 5 percent in the fiscal year ending last Sept. 30.
The House Rules Committee set the terms on Monday for floor debate of the budget resolution, including consideration of an amendment by Rep. Jim McGovern of Massachusetts that would prevent conversion of food stamps into a block grant. Military funding is likely to dominate debate.
To read the House Budget Committee proposal and supplemental committee documents, click here.