When Congress writes the new farm bill, it should maintain the nutrition safety net that is headlined by food stamps, said Georgia Rep. David Scott, the senior Democrat on the House Agriculture Committee. Senate Agriculture chairwoman Debbie Stabenow has said for months that “we’re not going to go backwards” on SNAP, possibly the most explosive issue in overhauling U.S. food and farm policy.
The 2023 farm bill could be the most expensive ever, costing nearly $130 billion a year by one estimate, and with public nutrition programs accounting for $4 of every $5 in outlays. Passage of the 2014 and 2018 farm bills was delayed by conservative Republicans’ proposals to restrict eligibility and to slash SNAP funding.
“We need to maintain the nutrition safety net and examine any gaps in coverage while ensuring job opportunities, education and training are available,” said Scott in outlining his farm bill priorities. Two years ago, Scott became the first Black chairman of the committee. With Republicans in control of the House this session, he will be the Democratic leader on the panel.
Scott said the farm bill should provide “appropriate funding” to expand rural access to high-speed internet service, help producers adapt to climate change, strengthen the safety net for livestock producers and make permanent a USDA scholarship program for historically Black land grant universities. The schools were created under the Second Morrill Act of 1890.
Food stamp spending has surged due to temporary increases in benefits in response to the pandemic. Meanwhile, spending through the traditional crop subsidy system is down due to high commodity prices. However, the government sent tens of billions of dollars to farmers through stopgap trade-war and pandemic relief programs. Pandemic SNAP benefits are winding down but an increase in benefits, from an updated formula that calculates the cost of a healthy diet, will remain in place. Republicans have complained the Biden administration used the adjustment of the so-called Thrifty Food Plan as a backdoor way to boost benefits.
The Republican-controlled House adopted a set of operating rules last week that make it harder to raise taxes or increase spending. The think tank Center on Budget and Policy Priorities nicknamed one of the provisions CUTGO because it would not require offsets for tax cuts but require increases in mandatory programs to be paid for through reductions in other mandatory programs. Another provision bars House consideration of bills that would increase mandatory programs, such as food assistance, by more than $2.5 billion in a decade.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy “will have a very hard time upholding his end of the bargain” on the tax and spending rules, George Washington University professor Sarah Binder told the Los Angeles Times, “because the Senate weighs in, and they will have a different view, even probably Republicans.” McCarthy agreed to restrictions in exchange for election as Speaker.
Pennsylvania Rep. Glenn Thompson, the House Agriculture chairman, has said the farm bill should protect the federally subsidized crop insurance program and possibly strengthen it. Thompson chaired an unofficial listening session at the Pennsylvania Farm Show over the weekend. The International Fresh Produce Association asked for “sustained and meaningful” funding of specialty crop research and innovation programs and for full access to USDA conservation programs, including climate mitigation initiatives, for specialty crop growers.