House Ag Republicans Eyeing Early May For Spending Cuts

By Ryan Hanrahan

Politico’s Meredith Lee Hill reported that “House Republicans are eyeing May 8 for the Agriculture Committee to advance its portion of the mega bill to enact President Donald Trump’s vast domestic agenda, according to two people granted anonymity to share private scheduling details.”

“This target date, while weeks away, is still an ambitious timeline as Republicans are trying to resolve the massive gap between the House’s instruction for the committee to accomplish $230 billion in spending cuts as compared with the Senate Agriculture Committee’s $1 billion minimum goal to offset the massive package of tax cuts, beefed up border security, energy policy and more,” Lee Hill reported.

“The meeting will also kick off a major public fight over the future of the country’s largest anti-hunger program — the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly known as food stamps,” Lee Hill reported. “The SNAP program helps to feed more than 40 million low-income Americans, and it’s one of the safety net programs some Republicans are wary of cutting too deeply to pay for their party-line bill.”

“More than a dozen Republicans in competitive districts have raised concerns that slashing significant funding from the program will mean deep cuts to current food aid benefits, beyond the new work requirements Republicans want to add for certain low-income recipients,” Lee Hill reported. “Lawmakers are also pursuing a variety of measures to limit future updates to the program and close so-called loopholes some states have used in recent years to maximize flexibility in providing benefits.”

“Another problem Republicans are currently working through is that many members in farm states want to attach billions of dollars in new spending from farm bill programs — mainly money to boost crop reference prices for farmers — to the party-line package that is already nearing capacity with all the other provisions slated for inclusion,” Lee Hill reported. “But it’s an acknowledgment that prospects for passing a standalone, bipartisan farm bill this year are looking increasingly bleak, and few other legislative vehicles exist for addressing outstanding items.”

Democrats Warn SNAP Cuts Would Put Farm Bill at Risk

E&E News’ Samuel Benson and Grace Yarrow reported that “House Democrats are warning Republican colleagues that passing a farm bill will be impossible if nutrition benefits are slashed in the forthcoming GOP reconciliation bill.”

“Rep. Angie Craig (D-Minn.), the (Agriculture Committee’s) ranking member, said she is encouraging fellow Democrats to hold the line against cuts to nutrition aid by embracing the farm bill threat,” Benson and Yarrow reported. “If Republicans go through with their plan, Craig warns, they risk losing a major farm bill pay-for and alienating the bipartisan coalition that has led previous farm bill negotiations.”

“If you cut $230 billion from one of the programs, one of the titles in the farm bill, then they’re actually putting the farm bill itself in jeopardy,’ she said,” according to Benson and Yarrow’s reporting.

Brownfield Ag News’ Jared White reported that “Nikki Budzinski (IL-13th) tells Brownfield, ‘A lot of us voted against a farm bill last year because there were $30 billion of cuts to SNAP.’ She says, ‘Now we’re talking about $230 billion worth of cuts to SNAP over 10 years. This is drastic cuts to people that are working, that are struggling to put food on the table for their kids.'”

“Eric Sorensen (IL-17th), who voted in favor of the House farm bill proposal last year, says these types of cuts would have far-reaching impacts on local communities,” White reported. “‘If there’s a cut in SNAP, that means that my local grocery store closes because there’s no people using SNAP at the front checkout counter anymore.’ He says, ‘That now means that the local produce that’s produced here in Illinois is not gonna make it onto the tables of my neighbors.'”