The price tag for SNAP is going up so quickly — doubling during the pandemic — that it will poison support for the farm subsidy and land stewardship programs that make up the rest of the farm bill, said the senior Republican on the Senate Agriculture Committee on Thursday. “You are going to crowd out our ability … to use funds on other programs,” said Arkansas Sen. John Boozman.
“Is there really any room left for farmers in the traditional farm bill coalition?” asked Boozman during a hearing on SNAP and other public nutrition programs in the farm bill.
Half a dozen Republican senators, including Boozman, objected to the USDA’s recalculation last year of the cost of a healthy diet, which resulted in a 27 percent increase in SNAP benefits from pre-pandemic levels. The increase is both modest, at 40 cents per meal, per recipient, and large, at an additional $20 billion a year.
“We have a difference on how to approach it,” responded Agriculture Committee chair Debbie Stabenow. Under congressional budget rules, funding for nutrition and farm supports are different categories, so an increase for one does not require a cut in the other. The adjustment of the Thrifty Food Plan, the foundation for SNAP benefits, she said, “was a directive of the [2018] farm bill.”
The Congressional Budget Office estimates that SNAP will cost an average of $121 billion a year for the next five years. Crop subsidies would average $6.2 billion a year, land stewardship $5.7 billion, and crop insurance $9.7 billion for fiscal 2024 to 2028. Congress is due to write a farm bill, which typically has a five-year lifespan, this year.
Public nutrition spending, dominated by SNAP, would account for 80 percent of the cost of the 2023 farm bill, based on CBO estimates, said Boozman. Sen. Mike Braun, Indiana Republican, said the farm bill was turning into a nutrition bill. “You have to live within your means,” he said.
Since the 1970s, farm bills have combined farm subsidies and food stamps into one piece of legislation to draw votes from rural and urban lawmakers — the farm bill coalition. A successful farm bill emerges from committee with the backing of farm and anti-hunger groups. Conservation and wildlife groups became a partner in the coalition in recent years.
Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa said the administration had “very unilaterally increased [SNAP’s] cost by billions of dollars” with the adjustment in benefits. Boozman said the increase would total $250 billion over a decade.
“SNAP is a lifeline for the families who receive it,” said Stacy Dean, the USDA’s deputy undersecretary for nutrition. Democrats on the committee gave her ample time to describe the benefits of the program and efforts to prevent fraud. Dean said the USDA was within its authority when it updated the Thrifty Food Plan. “We stand by our process.”
The Environmental Working Group, which favors more funding for land stewardship, said farm subsidies ought to be the target for budget cuts, not public nutrition. The EWG said it has identified nearly 20,000 farmers who have received crop subsidies for 37 years in a row. Most SNAP participants receive aid for less than a year, the group said.
At latest count, 42.1 million people were enrolled in SNAP, with an average benefit of $260 per month, per person.
SNAP enrollment increased during the pandemic and Congress temporarily boosted benefits. At the same time, USDA spending on the traditional farm program has declined because of high commodity prices. Farmers have received nearly $70 billion outside the farm programs in the form of trade war, pandemic, and disaster assistance payments since the 2018 farm bill was enacted.
To watch a video of the hearing or to read Dean’s written testimony, click here.