The heat-and-eat “spat” could lead to Republican attempts to end the Low Income Energy Assistance Program and so-called categorical eligibility for food stamps, especially if the GOP gains control of the Senate in the November elections, said House Agriculture Committee chairman Frank Lucas.
“This public spat raised the profile of this,” Lucas told the North American Agricultural Journalists (NAAJ) when asked about state action to avert reduction in food stamp benefits triggered by aid to poor people to pay utility costs. The 2014 farm law said states have to provide at least $20 a year in aid, up from the previous $1. Several states have made the switch, leading to complaints from Republicans up to Speaker John Boehner that states are cheating.
Mike Conaway of Texas, who may become Agriculture chairman in 2015, said he wants a thorough examination of the surge in food stamp enrollment since the 2008-09 recession and rising cost of the program. He said he believed “reforms are needed and appropriate.” The Budget Committee proposal to convert food stamps into a block grant to the states could be part of an Agriculture Committee examination of food stamps, said Conaway, who has voted for stricter eligibility rules that would deny benefits to nearly 4 mln people.
“It’s hard to imagine,” Conaway said, that a review would end in a proposal for higher funding for food stamps. Enrollment is forecast to drop in the near term, he said. Conaway said the government should track purchases by food stamp recipients. “We probably ought to know how you spend that money…make better food choices.”
“We just did reform in the farm bill,” responded Senate Agriculture chair Debbie Stabenow when NAAJ members asked about a food stamp overhaul. “I think we are probably pretty far apart on what we would consider reform.” Stabenow said she would oppose a block grant as replacement of food stamps.