Democrats on the House Agriculture Committee say they are increasingly concerned that Republican Chairman Michael Conaway is pursuing steep cuts in food stamps. As a result, the panel’s lead Democrat, Collin Peterson, shut off farm bill negotiations until Conaway releases all pertinent materials.
The committee has been at an impasse over food stamp cuts for a week, forcing Conaway to shelve plans for a committee vote on the bill next week. Congress will take a two-week spring recess in late March and early April.
“The Democratic members have made clear that they unanimously oppose the farm bill’s SNAP language as it has been described to them and reported in the press,” said Peterson in a statement. “My next steps are clear, and I will not be continuing negotiations with the chairman per the unanimous request of all Democratic members of the committee. I have suggested to the chairman that he makes the actual [bill] language, CBO scores, and potential impacts available to our committee members. I’m not sure where this will take us, but it will give the members information about what is actually being proposed.”
In a letter to Peterson, committee Democrats said descriptions of Conaway’s plans “are a significant cause of concern.” Conaway reportedly would tighten SNAP eligibility rules, particularly for so-called able-bodied adults without dependents (ABAWDs), and reduce food stamp enrollment by 20 percent while requiring states to provide job-training programs to help food stamp recipients move into better-paying and higher-skilled jobs. “We want to pass a farm bill this year,” the Democrats said in the letter, but “we cannot, in good faith, agree to any deal without ample time to review proposed policies and their impacts on our constituents.”
