Everything will be on the table when the House Agriculture Committee reviews the $70-billion-a-year food stamp program as part of writing the 2018 farm bill, said chairman Michael Conaway. “We will propose meaningful reforms to SNAP,” said Conaway, using the abbreviation for the program’s formal name, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
In a speech at USDA’s annual Outlook Forum, Conaway said the bill could be called for a House vote as early as this fall, but more likely in 2018. Current law expires at the end of September 2018. Congress has not enacted a farm bill on time since 1990.
“I don’t anticipate, other than cotton, any big new programs,” said Conaway, referring to farm subsidies. “It will be more a fine-tuning” of farm supports. Cotton growers have campaigned for more than a year to obtain access to the subsidy programs offered to grain and soybean farmers on grounds the current program is inadequate. The 2014 farm law converted cotton subsidies to a group insurance program with a minimum support price.
The premiere U.S. anti-hunger program, food stamps are the largest USDA program, in spending and in participation. Some 44.2 million people received food stamps during fiscal 2016 with the average benefit of $125.50 a month, or slightly more than $4 a day. Food stamps are three-fourths of farm bill spending.
Conaway, who convened a two-year series of hearings on food stamps, said reforms are needed to assist people to move into self-supporting employment. The changes could include stronger work requirements. In a report last year, Conaway said states should be more stringent in requiring food stamp recipients to register with employment offices and to take suitable jobs when offered.
The success of food stamps, he said, should be judged “by how many people get off the program.”
Later, he told reporters that all parts of the food stamp program will be open for reform.
The House defeated a farm bill for the first time in 2013 when conservative Republicans demanded the largest cuts – $40 billion – in food stamps in a generation by restricting eligibility. Opposition by Senate Democrats prevented broad-scale cuts.
Discussions of food stamp reforms take two divergent paths. Some groups say the government should do more in job training and education so recipients can move to better-paying jobs with some help in adjusting to demands such as child care or commuting expenses. Others say eligibility criteria are lax and that middle-class Americans cannot afford to pay the bill. When enrollment peaked in fiscal 2013, during the slow recovery from recession, more than 1 in 7 Americans received benefits.
The Agriculture Committee held a hearing earlier this month on whether purchases of soda and other sweets should be banned with food stamps. “The House will work its will,” said Conaway, who took no position and added, “I do believe incentives work.”