Leaders of the Republican-controlled House Budget Committee proposed steep cuts in federal spending in order to balance the budget in 10 years.
Among the steps the committee proposed is converting food stamps into a State Flexibility Fund that would be “tailored for each state’s low-income population. States would have to satisfy key conditions, such as meeting work targets as well as certain program integrity conditions,” says the committee’s 53-page publication. The committee was to vote on the budget resolution today.
The proposal on food stamps appeared similar to previous GOP plans to transform the program into a block grant with a specified amount of money per year for states. Food stamps, which help poor people buy food, operates as an entitlement that pays a monthly benefit to each recipient so that overall spending rises and falls with enrollment. “Too many people are becoming entrapped in the program with no way to get out,” says the Budget Committee, which favors “robust work requirements” for federal safety-net programs. “As the same time, states simply do not have the flexibility or authority to improve the program and address this cycle of dependency.”
Also in the package drafted by GOP committee leaders were instructions to the Agriculture Committee and four other House committees to make a combined $30 billion in cuts to federal programs in 2017 and 2018, and a total of $140 billion over a decade. Budget chairman Tom Price says the package “is a plan to balance the budget through common-sense reforms and greater economic growth.”
“Additionally, eliminating cargo preferences and monetization in international food aid would improve shipping flexibility and produce more cost-effective procurement procedures,” said the committee in explaining its proposal. As present, U.S.-flagged ships are guaranteed a hefty portion of U.S. food aid shipments. Analyses said shipping can amount to half of the cost of donating U.S. food to hunger spots around the world. Monetization is the practice of providing food to charities, which they sell in order to raise money for food assistance and food-security programs in targeted countries.
“We oppose any re-opening of the farm bill as part of this year’s budget process and will encourage members to vote against the resolution,” said Ferd Hoefner of the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, one of 250 farm groups that signed a letter against changes in the 2014 farm law, which covers farm subsidy, conservation, public nutrition, export and food aid programs. “The 2018 Farm Bill process is the time to deal with these issues, not a short session presidential election year,” Hoefner said.
The Freedom Caucus of Tea Party-influenced Republicans said it opposed the committee package, “which would make it all but impossible for the resolution to be approved on the House floor,” reports The Hill newspaper. The package includes repeal of so-called Obamacare, rollbacks of Dodd-Frank financial reforms and dismantling of the Commerce Department.