GOP quest to shrink food stamps thwarted as 'clean' Farm Bill passes Senate
The food stamps program has always had work requirements.
ALAN PYKE
DEC 11, 2018, 7:47 PM
The Senate approved a new five-year Farm Bill on Tuesday that does not impose the additional, stricter conditions for food assistance that conservative politicians have sought for years.
The vote tees up the second straight defeat for hard-liners on the right who want to make the government’s meager Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) even less generous. The prior Farm Bill fight came much closer to the doomsday scenario long feared among advocates for the poor and working class, as the House briefly broke the decades-old link between food assistance policy and farm aid policy. In the end, though, the outcome was much the same then as it is this winter: a modest bill that largely renews existing policy.
In each case, Republicans wanted to change eligibility rules for SNAP — commonly known as food stamps — in order to shrink enrollment over the coming years. The conservative movement typically portrays their policy preference as common-sense moderacy, explaining that it’s only fair that a food aid program require enrollees to work.
But the food stamps program already has work requirements. Republicans just want to raise those bars — and make it harder or even impossible for state administrators to temporarily waive work rules when economic conditions tighten and jobs are hard to find.
Such temporary easing of work rules for able-bodied adults without dependents — ABAWDS in food policy wonk parlance — is still likely to face new restrictions even after legislative Republicans caved again on their preferred statutory changes. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue has promised to use his regulatory authority to constrict the process by which states seek such ABAWDS waivers in the future.
https://thinkprogress.org/farm-bill-senate-food-assistance-conservatives-a6d5801c130c/
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“This legislation is a win for the 46 million people across the United States served by the Feeding America network, as well as our nation’s growers and producers,” said Claire Babineaux-Fontenot of the national food bank network Feeding America. “For the millions of children, seniors, veterans and families who rely on the program for crucial nutrition assistance, this delivers welcome peace of mind.”