Food Stamp Costs Become Central Issue in Farm Bill
Efforts to trim costs after years of growth
The U.S. House and Senate have crafted vastly different farm bills, and a well-known program that helps tens of millions of Americans put food on the table is a prominent sticking point between them.
That program is the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), commonly referred to as food stamps. And after years of recession-driven spending and enrollment growth, lawmakers in Washington are looking to pare it back.
The question is how much to cut, and how to do it. The House is looking to cut $20.5 billion from the program over the next decade, prompting the Obama administration to issue a veto threat. The Senate would cut $3.9 billion in the next 10 years. Both versions of the farm bill would significantly change the way states administer SNAP.
Hide Comments (0)
Editor's Note: As of February 29, 2024, commenting privileges on reason.com posts are limited to Reason Plus subscribers. Past commenters are grandfathered in for a temporary period. Subscribe here to preserve your ability to comment. Your Reason Plus subscription also gives you an ad-free version of reason.com, along with full access to the digital edition and archives of Reason magazine. We request that comments be civil and on-topic. We do not moderate or assume any responsibility for comments, which are owned by the readers who post them. Comments do not represent the views of reason.com or Reason Foundation. We reserve the right to delete any comment and ban commenters for any reason at any time. Comments may only be edited within 5 minutes of posting. Report abuses.
Please
to post commentsMute this user?
Ban this user?
Un-ban this user?
Nuke this user?
Un-nuke this user?
Flag this comment?
Un-flag this comment?