SNAP
Top Republicans in House and Senate press on SNAP work requirements
A small group of negotiators will write the final version of the $87-billion-a-year farm bill in the weeks ahead, and they are under pressure from high-ranking conservatives in Congress to require millions of people to work at least 20 hours a week to qualify for food stamps. House Majority Whip Steve Scalise said over the weekend that work requirements are "really important" in a booming economy.
Proposed SNAP changes ‘ignore participants’ dignity,’ says think tank
As House and Senate farm bill conferees try to resolve their differences over SNAP, the Berkeley Food Institute published a policy brief that shows how some proposed changes to the program would undermine the very things that make SNAP successful.
Public health experts call on farm bill conferees to reject SNAP work requirements
More than 200 health and medical professionals from across the country sent a letter to the chairmen and ranking members of the House and Senate agriculture committees urging the farm bill conferees to reject the House bill’s expansion of SNAP work requirements.
Farm bill negotiators prodded to resolve SNAP work rules
With the Senate returning early from its August recess, a panorama of farm, conservation, ag retailer, insurer, lender and antihunger groups said on Monday that urban and rural America needs prompt passage of the 2018 farm bill. The groups did not mention by name the major issue facing farm bill negotiators – the House proposal for broader work requirements for SNAP recipients – but analysts say the House plan could be a legislative poison pill.
California avoids the SNAP snafu engulfing farmers markets
California offers an example of how to avoid the electronic equipment snarl that threatens SNAP sales at 40 percent of farmers markets across the nation, says The New Food Economy. "Their method? Creating a system partially, if not fully independent of the federal system."
Representative urges colleagues to fight an ‘unconscionable’ House farm bill
Rep. Jim McGovern of Massachusetts, a longtime champion of nutrition programs and a farm bill conferee, urged his colleagues not to support the House bill’s language around nutrition programs. “It is vital that we stand strong and that we side with the Senate … with regard to their language in the nutrition title,” he said in an interview on Thursday with the Food Research and Action Center.
Senate names high-power team for farm bill negotiations
When farm bill negotiators get down to business, the 47 House "conferees" will face an unusually big-caliber Senate team, with Majority Leader Mitch McConnell as one of its members, a rare role for the leader. Senate Agriculture Committee leaders, in cheering the formal appointment of their nine negotiators, used "bipartisan" to describe their approach and take a swipe at the Republican-written House farm bill and its proposal to require more people to work 20 hours a week to qualify for food stamps.
New report finds rate of ‘food hardship’ has risen since 2016
A new report from the Food Research and Action Center found that the food hardship rate for households across the country has increased from 15.1 percent in 2016 to 15.7 percent in 2017. The rate increase was higher for households with children, from 17.5 percent to 18.4 percent. The study comes as wages remain stagnant, despite falling unemployment.
New York taps controversial bonus program to preserve SNAP at farmers markets
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo's plan to ensure farmers markets can continue accepting SNAP benefits through the end of the market season relies on funding from a controversial federal program that rewards states for implementing SNAP with low error rates—and that lawmakers may eliminate in the next farm bill. <strong>(No paywall)</strong>
New York State deal keeps SNAP working at farmers markets
Food stamp recipients in New York State will be able to use EBT cards, without interruption, at farmers markets throughout New York for the rest of the market season, announced Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
‘Big Four’ goal is farm bill as quickly as possible
The Republican chairmen and senior Democrats on the Senate and House Agriculture committees, known collectively the “Big Four,” met on Thursday and agreed “to get a farm bill finished as quickly as possible.”
Poll: Six in 10 voters oppose cuts in SNAP
A public opinion survey commissioned by the Johns Hopkins school of public health found that six in 10 voters oppose cuts in food stamps, the largest U.S. anti-hunger program. SNAP is the major issue in Senate and House negotiations over the 2018 farm bill.
Roberts: The ‘Big Four’ should send a farm bill signal
As a demonstration of congressional determination to enact the new farm bill on time, Senate Agriculture chairman Pat Roberts wants the “Big Four” negotiators to meet before the House recesses for the rest of the summer. A meeting this week would “signal to farmers that we will get a bill ... before the Sept. 30 deadline,” he said.
As processor shutdown looms, nonprofit funds another month of SNAP at farmers markets
One week after FERN and the Washington Post reported on the imminent shutdown of an EBT payment processor responsible for 40 percent of all SNAP transactions at farmers markets, a national farmers market advocacy group has stepped in to fund the processor’s operations for another month. <strong>(No paywall)</strong>
House Republicans insist on welfare reform in the farm bill
Speaker Paul Ryan put welfare reform at the top of the agenda for upcoming farm bill negotiations with the Senate, saying on Wednesday that the work-or-job-training requirements backed by House Republicans for SNAP recipients are vital for putting Americans to work.
Keep EBT working at farmers markets, senators ask USDA
With the closure of a payment company looming at the end of this month, Senators urged the USDA to explore all options so SNAP recipients can continue to shop at farmers markets. The company, which processes 40 percent of SNAP sales at farmers markets, is ending service on July 31 and a successor company says it will take several weeks to get its equipment in place.
House to call farm bill showdown with Senate
With the support of the Trump administration, the Republican-controlled House wrote welfare reform into the farm bill. Now, GOP leaders say they will call a vote as early as Tuesday in the House for a face-to-face confrontation with the Senate over broader and more rigorous work requirements affecting an estimated 7 million food stamp recipients.
‘It takes time to get it right’ on the farm bill
Senate Agriculture chairman Pat Roberts, who will chair House-Senate negotiations over the farm bill, plans a thorough but timely resolution of the differences between the two chambers’ versions, said a committee spokeswoman on Monday.