The House Budget Committee called for a nominal $1 billion cut over a 10-year period in the USDA’s mandatory programs, including crop insurance and food stamps, and the conversion of food stamps into a block grant program in fiscal 2021. The block-grant idea has been a feature of House Republican budget proposals in previous years. The committee provided few details on the latest iteration, which was given three paragraphs in the its 43-page document, “A balanced budget for a strong America.”
After lamenting the high cost of food stamps, the committee said states have little flexibility in running the program: “The budget converts [food stamps] to a State Flexibility Fund so state governments have the power to administer the program in ways that best fit the needs of their communities with greater incentives to achieve better results. There are no changes made in the program until 2021, so that states have enough time to build their own program and craft innovative solutions.”
There are many potential pitfalls to a block grant for food stamps, said Jim Weill of the Food Research and Action Center. States could divert the money to other uses, for instance, and because block grants provide a specified amount of money, funding would run short in an economic downturn. The food-stamp program, said Weill, “is really the ultimate safety net” to ensure that people have enough to eat.
It would be up to the House Agriculture Committee to find $1 billion in cuts from mandatory spending. “Far more onerous,” said the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, is a Budget Committee proposal to reduce discretionary domestic spending by $44 billion in fiscal 2016. NSAC said that would translate to “at least a $1.9 billion [9 percent] cut to rural and agriculture discretionary spending.”
The Budget Committee said its plan includes $5.5 trillion in cuts, “higher than any previous” budget package and tax reform. “From health care to education, states will be empowered to create their own solutions, free of onerous Washington mandates or over-regulation.” The House committee scheduled a bill-drafting session for today at 10:30 a.m. ET. The Senate Budget Committee is to begin work on its resolution today at 2:30 p.m. ET.
To read “A balanced budget for a stronger America,” click here. To read the text of the budget resolution, click here.