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 That was five years ago.
Conservatives calling for an overhaul of the domestic food aid program will try to trim the nation's nearly $80 billion grocery bill when the House weighs in on farm legislation in a few weeks. The Senate overwhelmingly voted Monday to expand farm subsidies and make small cuts to food stamps in a five-year, half-trillion dollar measure. But passage in the House isn't expected to be so easy -- or so bipartisan.
House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, said Monday that his chamber will take up its version of the farm bill later this month. He made clear his own dislike for generous farm subsidies included in the bill, saying his "concerns about our country's farm programs are well-known." But Boehner acknowledged that the rest of the chamber might not agree with him.
"If you have ideas on how to make the bill better, bring them forward," Boehner said in a statement directed to his colleagues. "Let's have the debate, and let's vote on them."
House consideration will come after more than a year's delay. The Senate passed a similar version of its farm bill last year, but the House declined to take it up during an election year amid conflict over the amount to cut from food stamps, now known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP. One in seven Americans now use the program.
The Senate bill would cut the food stamp program, now known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, by about $400 million a year, or half a percent, and Senate Democrats have been reluctant to cut more. The farm bill approved by the House Agriculture Committee last month would cut the program by $2 billion a year, or a little more than 3 percent, and make it more difficult for some people to qualify.
In his statement Monday, Boehner signaled support for the House bill's level
of food stamp cuts, saying they are changes that "both parties know are
necessary." Other Republicans are expected to offer amendments to expand the
cuts, setting up a potentially even more difficult resolution with the Senate
version. At the same time, Democrats are expected to try and eliminate the cuts.
Food stamps were added to the farm bill decades ago to gain urban votes for
the rural measure, which sets policy for farm subsidies, programs to protect
environmentally sensitive land and other rural development projects. But with
the program's exponential growth during the recent economic downturn, food
stamps are now making passage harder.
"I expect it to come from all directions," House Agriculture Committee
Chairman Frank Lucas, R-Okla., said last month, acknowledging the complications
of moving the bill through his chamber.
On the Senate floor, senators rejected amendments on food stamp cuts,
preserving the $400 million annual decrease. The bill's farm-state supporters
also fended off efforts to cut sugar, tobacco and other farm supports.
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Senators looking to pare back subsidies did win one victory in the
Senate, an amendment to reduce the government's share of crop
insurance premiums for farmers with adjusted gross incomes of more
than $750,000. Sens. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and Tom Coburn, R-Okla.,
said their amendment would affect about 20,000 farmers.
Currently the government pays for an average 62 percent of crop
insurance premiums and also subsidizes the companies that sell the
insurance. The overall bill expands crop insurance for many crops
and also creates a program to compensate farmers for smaller, or
"shallow," revenue losses before the paid insurance kicks in.
The crop insurance expansion is likely to benefit Midwestern corn
and soybean farmers, who use crop insurance more than other farmers.
The bill would also boost subsidies for Southern rice and peanut
farmers, lowering the threshold for those farms to receive
government help.
The help for rice and peanuts was not in last year's bill but was
added this year after the agriculture panel gained a new top
Republican, Mississippi Sen. Thad Cochran. Critics, including the
former top Republican on the committee, Kansas Sen. Pat Roberts,
said the new policy could guarantee that the rice and peanut
farmers' profits are average or above average.
The House has similar provisions expanding crop insurance and
rice and peanut subsidies.
Dairy programs could also be contentious on the House floor. Both
the Senate and House bills would overhaul dairy policy by creating a
new insurance program for dairy producers, eliminating other dairy
subsidies and price supports. The new policy includes a market
stabilization program that could dictate production cuts when
oversupply drives down prices.
The program faced little opposition in the Senate but a similar
overhaul in the House bill is expected to face resistance in that
chamber, where Boehner last year called the new stabilization
program "Soviet-style."
Boehner reiterated those concerns in his statement Monday, saying
he will support an amendment on the floor to challenge the proposed
policy.
[Associated
Press; By MARY CLARE JALONICK]
Follow Mary Clare
Jalonick on Twitter at
http://twitter.com/mcjalonick.
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