The cost of the largest U.S. antihunger program, food stamps, doubled during the slow recovery from the 2008-09 recession, a factor in the first-ever House defeat of a farm bill in 2013. Costs have fallen for four years in a row and are expected to fall again but SNAP, as the food stamp program is known, again is the divisive factor in writing an omnibus farm bill.
House Agriculture chairman Michael Conaway says the program should put more emphasis on work, and help people get on their feet through higher earnings. “Not one person would be forced off SNAP due to the work or training requirements we have been discussing,” says Conaway. House Democrats shut off farm bill discussions with Conaway last week until they see his plans.
Conaway reportedly would reduce the ability of states to offer benefits to able-bodied adults; he would also increase the number of able-bodied people subject to a restricted 90 days of benefits in a three-year period, unless they work at least 20 hours a week or spend an equivalent amount of time in job training or workfare.
The disagreement with Democrats forced Conaway to give up plans for a vote this week in committee on the bill. There were no immediate signs of a change in heart on either side. Majority-party Republicans have two options: They can try to reach a compromise with Democrats that allows bipartisan passage on the House floor or they can seek to draft, and pass, a farm bill on their own, which could mean more cuts than proposed by Conaway, according to a veteran ag lobbyist.
The administration says too many people remain on food stamps. The bulk of recipients are elderly, disabled or children. An estimated 9 percent are able-bodied adults without children, a group that is often the focus of conservative reformers, although many of them work enough hours that they are not subject to the 90-day limit.
According to the think tank Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, “Most low-income, non-disabled adults work, but often with interruptions, and they are more likely to participate in SNAP when they are not working. For the small share of participants who are unable to work or face barriers to work, SNAP is a crucial support that helps them buy groceries.”
An annual USDA report said fiscal 2017 was the fourth year in a row that participation decreased, after rising in 12 of the preceding 13 years. Some 42.2 million people received benefits during 2017 at cost of $68 billion, 15 percent less than the peak of $80 billion in 2013 when 47.6 million people were enrolled. At latest count, 41.3 million people received SNAP benefits, slightly more than one in eight Americans. The average benefit was $123 a month per person.
Enrollment in the Women, Infants and Children supplemental food program dropped to 7.3 million during fiscal 2017, the smallest figure in 17 years, said the USDA report.