States are following the law in averting cuts in food stamp benefits tied to utility costs, said Rep Jim McGovern of Massachusetts during a lively moment in a House Agriculture Committee hearing. “This is very much consistent with the law,” said McGovern, a Democrat, before chiding Republicans for “a lot of complaining by members of your party.”
“This issue will not go away,” responded Frank Lucas of Oklahoma, the committee chairman. The House Republican budget would override the states on the utility rule and there is talk of action in USDA’s funding bill to pre-empt the states. House Speaker Boehner has said states engaged in cheating and fraud to get around a crackdown. The farm law says states have to provide at least $20 a year in utility aid to poor people to trigger additional food stamps, up from the previous $1. And that’s what states are doing. Some 850,000 people are affected.
Also during the hearing, AgSec Vilsack said he hasn’t decided whether to offer a general signup this year for the Conservation Reserve, which has dropped in size by 30 pct during the farm-sector boom. “We’re going to have to be quite targeted” in enrolling land, he said, because of new, lower acreage limits. Land can be enrolled at any time if it fits high-priority goals such as reducing runoff into waterways or planting shelterbelts. Rep. Collin Peterson said “big tract” signups are needed for game-bird habitat. “With what’s happening with commodity prices, things are going to change,” he said.
The hearing was announced as a review of the health of the rural economy. The committee’s interests stopped at the fenceline, however, with a few questions about rural economic development and public nutrition. Fifteen pct of the population lives in rural areas; only a few million people live on the farm.