Two administration officials “who worked on the idea” say the White House proposal of a monthly “Harvest Box” of preselected food for poor Americans “was intended to lay down a marker that the administration is serious” about revamping the food stamp program, said the New York Times. Alongside the Harvest Box, the White House proposed stricter eligibility rules and tougher time limits on food stamp benefits that would reduce enrollment in the program by 10 percent.
The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a think tank, said “the real battle” is the array of changes proposed for food stamps. “But all anyone is talking about today are the boxes.” The senior Democrat on the Senate Agriculture Committee, Debbie Stabenow of Michigan, said the Harvest Box “is clearly meant to be a distraction.”
The two officials cited, but not identified, by the Times said that neither Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue, who is credited with the idea, nor White House budget director Mick Mulvaney, who loudly praised it, expected Republicans in Congress to embrace the Harvest Box. Lawmakers were not given advanced notice of the idea, said the newspaper. The White House did not address the cost or the logistics of a nationwide food delivery system.
House Agriculture chairman Michael Conaway has said he wants to make “meaningful reforms” in food stamps, especially in the area of work rules and time limits. Cuts to the program could top $10 billion, according to a veteran lobbyist. The Times said that Senate Agriculture chairman Pat Roberts “is expected to include fewer cuts in hopes of gaining the bipartisan support needed to push the measure through the Senate.”