SNAP
With a bit of help, House GOP breezes past farm bill obstacles
Democrats joined the Republican majority to defeat the final challenges to crop subsidies in the House farm bill on Thursday, immediately followed by two-party teamwork to reject a more stringent line of SNAP work requirements than were written into the bill.
While House smolders, Senate chugs along on farm bill
The leaders of the Senate Agriculture Committee are working in private on a bipartisan farm bill, according to aides, who declined to suggest when a draft would be released. The emphasis on bipartisanship contrasted with the political rupture in the House over work requirements for food stamps.
Sharp division, specter of 2013 defeat in farm bill debate
House Democrats stood solidly against the GOP-written farm bill in a test vote on Wednesday that gave Agriculture Committee chairman Michael Conaway little room to maneuver on the legislation, which would tighten work requirements for food stamps and loosen subsidy rules for farmers.
House panel votes to keep SNAP retailer data secret
A May court ruling that would allow the release of SNAP sales data may not be the end of a South Dakota newspaper’s seven-year battle for access to the information. The House Appropriations Committee voted on Wednesday to keep the data confidential.
White House backs House farm bill as ‘meaningful welfare reform’
With the farm bill facing a test vote in the House today, the Trump administration called the bill "a step toward meaningful welfare reform" with its stricter work requirements for SNAP recipients. "The administration believes that work reforms like those in HR 2 are a critical component of any multi-year farm bill reauthorization," said the White House on Tuesday.
Civil rights groups ask for House defeat of farm bill
The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, a coalition of 200 national groups, asked U.S. representatives on Monday to vote "no" on the farm bill, saying stricter work requirments for food stamp recipients "would increase food insecurity and hardship" among poor people. "Imposing barriers to food assistance will not incentivize or equip people with what they need to seek and maintain work," wrote coalition president Vanita Gupta.
In House, ‘a lot of undecideds’ on farm bill
While ready to move on the farm bill, House Republican leaders are giving Agriculture Committee chairman Michael Conaway time to persuade "a lot of undecideds" to vote for tougher work requirements for SNAP recipients and looser subsidy rules for farmers. A sizable number of Republican lawmakers say Conaway wasn't tough enough on either group and want to tighten the access to federal support.
Trump urges speedy work on farm bill; GOP sets House debate
House Republican leaders have scheduled the farm bill for debate next week, confident that when the time comes, a majority will vote for its combination of tougher work requirements for SNAP recipients and looser subsidy rules for farmers.
Trump turns up the heat on work requirements in the farm bill
President Trump’s preference for work requirements in social welfare programs is expected to come up today in a meeting to discuss the farm bill with the chairmen of the House and Senate Agricultural committees.
‘America’s Harvest Box’ is stamped ‘Return to sender’
In a quiet subcommittee vote, Congress declined on Wednesday to take delivery of “America’s Harvest Box,” the Trump administration’s headline-grabbing idea of sending a monthly box of nonperishable foods to SNAP recipients.
The farm bill expressway slows down in the House
The route to House passage of the farm bill is nothing like the speedy trip that Agriculture Committee chairman Michael Conaway envisioned early this year. Instead of motoring to a floor vote immediately after committee approval of the legislation, Conaway is crawling along in the parliamentary slow lane, trying to round up enough Republican support to pass the most partisan farm bill in years.
Farm bill erases subsidy limits, say AEI panelists
The Republican-written farm bill awaiting a vote in the House effectively eliminates the USDA’s weak limits on farm subsidy payments, said two economists on Thursday. Separately, two free-market groups said the bill was “rife with corporate welfare” and lacked “badly needed reforms.”
Show of opposition: No Democratic amendments for farm bill, says Peterson
Just as they did at committee level, House Democrats will show their opposition to the Republican-written farm bill by refusing to offer amendments during floor debate, said Rep. Collin Peterson on Wednesday.
Conaway seeks ‘Trump-style loyalty pledge’ for farm bill, say Democrats
Michael Conaway says House Republican leaders will strong-arm opponents out of the way of floor passage of his farm bill, which will toughen work requirements for SNAP benefits while relaxing subsidy rules. According to Conaway, no one will be allowed to offer an amendment to the bill without promising beforehand to vote for passage, prompting four key Democrats to accuse Conaway of demanding "a Trump-style loyalty pledge."
House conservatives: End crop subsidies, slash crop insurance, block-grant SNAP
If the House followed the lead of the Republican Study Committee, it would abolish crop and dairy subsidies, slash taxpayer support for crop insurance, phase out the USDA’s two largest soil and water conservation programs, and convert SNAP funding to block grants to states.
The ‘big two’ U.S. ag groups differ on House farm bill, SNAP overhaul
The National Farmers Union said it opposes the Republican-written farm bill awaiting a vote in the House. The American Farm Bureau Federation, for its part, said the partisan split over the bill was not an insurmountable barrier to passing a new farm and public nutrition law this year.
Navigating SNAP presents special challenges for the mentally ill
In the third installment of a five-part investigation into SNAP, Harvest Public Media explores how work requirements, the recertification process, and shame can prevent people with mental illness from accessing crucial nutrition services.
Step by step, seeking a bipartisan farm bill in the Senate
Leaders of the Senate Agriculture Committee said they are working on a bipartisan farm bill, in contrast to the Republican-written bill awaiting a vote in the House, but offered no suggestion on Tuesday as to when it will be ready. A month ago, Senate Agriculture chairman Pat Roberts warned Congress must move briskly on a bill this spring or forfeit passage this year.