SENATE FARM BILL PROGRESSES; SNAP CUTS UNCHANGED

Farm bill advocates in the Senate beat off attacks from the left and right Tuesday (5/21), challenging the level of savings from nutrition programs — chiefly SNAP. NY Senator Kirsten Gillibrand had sought to replace an estimated $4.1 billion in SNAP savings in the bill with equal cuts from the crop insurance program, but she failed 70-26. The second amendment came from Republican Senator Pat Roberts who pressed for an additional $31 billion in food-stamp savings — significantly more than what’s been proposed by even the Republican-controlled House Agriculture Committee. Roberts lost as well, 58-40.

But on Wednesday Senate Democrats accepted an amendment offered by Senator David Vitter that would bar from SNAP, for life, anyone who was ever convicted, at any time, of one of a specified list of violent crimes — even if he committed the crime decades ago, served his sentence and had been a good citizen ever since.  In addition, the amendment would mean lower SNAP benefits for their children and other family members. So, a man who was convicted of a single crime at age 19; never committed another crime; and is now elderly, poor, and raising grandchildren would be thrown off SNAP, and his grandchildren’s benefits would be cut. Given US incarceration patterns, the amendment would have a skewed racial impact—African American males would be among those hardest hit.

 

Source: Politico, 5/22/13, Senate Farm Bill; Center for Budget and Policy Priorities, 5/22/13, Senate Amendment