Farm Bill passes

Ending several years of legislative work and numerous up and down votes in Congress, the Senate passed the 2014 Farm Bill on February 4 by a vote of 68-32.  Senators Blumenthal and Murphy voted against it (as had all of our House members in the prior House vote).  The vote was widely bipartisan, as was expected, with several Senators opposing the bill due to the commodity provisions or SNAP cuts that affected primarily northern states due to the changes to the 'heat or eat' provisions of SNAP regulations.  The House of Representatives had voted last Thursday to approve the Farm Bill by a vote of 251-166, with 15 members not voting.  The bill passed with 89 Democratic votes and 162 Republican votes.  

Now that the Senate has also passed the bill, the President is expected to quickly sign it. 

While the legislation includes $8.6 billion in cuts to SNAP through changes to the 'heat or eat' provisions in 15 states (including Connecticut) and DC, it also includes an additional $205 million in funding for The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP, the federal commodities that Foodshare distributes), as well as a new dairy donation program. 

We are obviously very disappointed with the cuts to SNAP funding, but appreciate the tireless advocacy of so many donors, volunteers, and staff  and the support of the entire Connecticut delegation on behalf of the hungry people in our region and around the country.