Page 84 - Farm Bill Series_The 7 Things You Should Know

Rep. Jackie Walorski, an Indiana Republican who chaired the House Agriculture Committee’s
nutrition subcommittee in the last Congress, has since moved to the Ways and Means
Committee, which would have the lead role in shaping Ryan’s welfare bill.

Jim Weill, president of the Food Research and Action Center, an anti-hunger advocacy group
that signed the February budget letter, says the House Agriculture Committee’s oversight is good
for SNAP because it ultimately bolsters the case for maintaining the assistance. “It conveys to
Congress how important the program is to all communities, including rural
communities,” he said.

SNAP is as critical now to the working poor as it was two decades ago, he said. In 2015, the
lowest 20 percent of the U.S. population earned $12,457, less than the average earnings by the
same group in 1995, $12,898, when adjusted for inflation. “SNAP now functions much more as a
support for working families, and a much higher proportion of SNAP recipients are from
working families now than in 1996,” he said.

Rep. Jim McGovern, the ranking Democrat on the nutrition subcommittee, didn’t have any input
into the committee’s report, but he later released a five-page letter quoting the broad array of
witnesses who praised the way it functioned.

A second report, released by USDA, raised another issue that the committee may consider:
Whether to put restrictions on what types of foods and beverages can be bought with SNAP
benefits or whether to provide new incentives for healthful foods. The USDA report found that
20 percent of SNAP benefits are used for sugary beverages and junk food.

Conaway doesn’t rule out the possibility that the farm bill might have to be split again to get it
through the House. Peterson, still the ranking Democrat on House Agriculture, is optimistic that
won’t happen.

The outcome in 2013 “helps us because people got burned. I think they’re going to be
reluctant to do it again,” Peterson said. “The Senate is not going to split this bill. No matter
what happens in the House, it ain’t going to happen.”

#30

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