Posted September 20, 2013
The U.S. House of Representatives narrowly approved the
nutrition bill that would cut about $40 billion from the Supplemental Nutrition
Assistance Program (SNAP), by tightening eligibility rules and ending state
waivers, according to a Politico article available here.
H.R. 3102, the Nutrition Reform and Work Opportunity
Act of 2013, passed with a 217-210 vote.
The text of the bill is available here. For information on the vote breakdown, the
roll call vote is available here. The bill and the cuts to SNAP were a major
effort of House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA). Tactics to pass the bill were “extraordinary
with no committee markup to review the 109-page package, nor amendments
permitted on the floor.”
House Agriculture Committee Chairman Frank Lucas (R-OK)
said that the bill would make “common-sense” reforms to SNAP “largely by
encouraging work and fettering out fraud and abuse” according to an AgriPulse
article available here.
House Democrats opposed the bill “saying it targets the
nation’s most vulnerable population – the children and the elderly,” arguing
that “nearly 4 million low-income people, including 170,000 veterans would lose
their SNAP benefits.”
Collin Peterson (D-MN), House Agriculture Committee
ranking member, said “All this bill will do is make our job harder, if not
impossible to pass a five-year farm bill.”
In addition to tightening eligibility rules and ending
state waivers, the bill plans to eliminate “categorical eligibility,” which
“allows families to receive a Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF)
brochure or a referral to an ‘800’ number to automatically be eligible for SNAP
benefits.” The bill would also eliminate
the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP).
The House will now add this three-year nutrition bill
to its five year farm program bill and send it to conference with the
Senate-passed comprehensive five-year farm bill, which includes $12 billion in
SNAP cuts.
Senate Agriculture Committee Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow
(D-MI) said, “Not only does this House bill represent a shameful attempt to
kick millions of families in need off of food assistance, it’s also a
monumental waste of time. The bill will
never pass the Senate, and will never be signed by the president.”
The White House issued a veto threat of the bill on
Wednesday.
