Michael Conaway

The panel of experts helping the government revise the Dietary Guidelines for Americans "strays from strictly nutritional evidence" to dabble in "areas like sustainability and tax policy," charged House Agriculture chairman Michael Conaway. With two cabinet members slated to testify before his committee on Wednesday, Conaway wrote an essay detailing his criticism.

The answer to hunger in America is for government and charities to work together, said House Agriculture chairman Michael Conaway, who said it is "confusing and disingenuous" to suggest food stamps are the only source of meals for poor people. Food stamps "are designed to be supplemental, leaving [the] household responsible for the remaining needs," Conaway said in opening remarks at a hearing on food assistance provided by charities. "Many do so with the help of local organizations ...."

Food stamps, the largest U.S. antihunger program, "lacks a clear mission," said chairwoman Jackie Walorski of the House Agriculture subcommittee on nutrition. In opening a hearing on characteristics of food-stamp recipients, the Indiana Republican said the program, which helps poor people buy food, "is not helping lift people out of poverty." She also complained of "many levels of bureaucracy" and overlapping federal, state and local programs.

The premiere U.S. antihunger program has failed to adjust to changing needs, said Agriculture Committee chairman Michael Conaway, in opening "without preconceived notions" a top-to-bottom review of the food stamp program. Conaway said he is committed to "strengthening the program to serve as a tool to help individuals move up the economic ladder." Indiana Republican Jackie Walorski, who chairs the nutrition subcommittee, said the review could take a couple of years.

The House Agriculture Committee pointed to spending cuts enacted as part of the 2014 farm law, and asked the Budget Committee to look to the other 98 percent of the federal budget for savings. "From our perspective, we believe the Committee on Agriculture has done its part for now with respect to deficit reduction," says a letter approved on a voice vote by committee members. The farm law called for $23 billion in savings and the committee says the savings "remain intact."

For weeks, the ag world has buzzed with rumors that the new edition of the Dietary Guidelines would downplay the role of meat in healthy diets or even delete red meat from its recommendations. The 2010 Guidelines say at one point, "Choose a variety of protein foods, which include seafood, lean meat and poultry, eggs, beans and peas, soy products, and unsalted nuts and seeds." House Agriculture Committee chairman Mike Conaway raised the issue with Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, saying...

At the first House Agriculture Committee hearing of the year, chairman Mike Conaway told Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, "With commodity markets plummeting and crop producers struggling to find financing, now is precisely the wrong time to weaken crop insurance." It was the latest rebuff from the farm sector of White House proposals to reduce crop insurance spending by 17 percent through a lower premium subsidy on revenue policies that insure the price at harvest time, and by adjusting payment rates for prevented-planting claims.

Two crop insurance reforms would cut the cost of the federally subsidized program by about 17 percent under the fiscal 2016 budget proposed for the Agriculture Department. The program is a routine target for cuts, most of which are rejected. This time, the administration proposed a lower premium subsidy for so-called revenue policies based on prices at harvest time, and reforms to prevented-planting coverage. Together, the changes would save $16 billion over 10 years.

For many people, food stamps, the premiere U.S. anti-hunger program, provides assistance during a fairly brief stretch of hard times, such as unemployment. For millions of others - foremost, the elderly and disabled - the program is a long-term support, says a new Agriculture Department report, Dynamics and Determinants of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Participation from 2008 to 2012. Food stamps were renamed SNAP in 2008 but the original name remains in use.

Chairman Mike Conaway said the House Agriculture Committee will clear a Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) reauthorization bill for House debate "as early in April as we can." The starting point will be the bill that was approved, 265-144, by the House last summer, Conaway told reporters after an organizational meeting of the committee. Conaway was one of four co-sponsors of the bill, the Consumer Protection and End User Relief Act.

Texas Republican Mike Conaway, the incoming chairman of the House Agriculture Committee, said he expects "vigorous oversight" of federal programs from crop insurance and food stamps to farm subsidies and the futures markets in the new session of Congress. Conaway redrew the jurisdiction of the Agriculture subcommittees and said, "All six subcommittees will be expected to carry out vigorous oversight of their mission areas." At present, there are five subcommittees.