Why We Need to Keep SNAP in the Farm Bill
Every five years Congress passes the Farm Bill. Embedded in it is the most critical food security policy ever created ... yet, some members of Congress are pressed to shut it down. Pay attention.
Daniel Zavala Paramo | a Prosperity Now feature
Every five years, Congress passes a critical piece of legislation affecting everything from food security to rural energy to agriculture: the Farm Bill. With Congress in recess until mid-August, and so much money (an estimated $1.51 trillion) riding on one piece of legislation, it is worth looking into what the Farm Bill is and why it matters to all of us.
So, what is it? Through the Farm Bill, Congress changes parts of permanent law, amends or repeals previous laws, and establishes new rules on domestic and foreign food policy. The overwhelming majority of the Farm Bill deals with domestic nutrition programs. In fact, of the expected $1.51 trillion in spending, around $1.22 trillion (or 81.1 percent) of funding goes exclusively to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).
The latest reports from the USDA identify over 13.5 million food-insecure households in the United States, stretching from urban cores to rural farmland. In fact, according to the Food Research and Action Center, rural households are more likely to experience food insecurity and take advantage of SNAP compared to their urban counterparts. As the flagship anti-hunger program, a robust, well-funded SNAP is a lifeline for over 41.9 million Americans nationwide who utilized SNAP this past April alone.
SNAP also serves as a safety net against poverty. According to the Urban Institute, the combined effects of expanding SNAP and emergency allotments during the COVID-19 pandemic reduced poverty by 14.1 percent in states with emergency allotments and reduced child poverty by almost 22 percent when compared to not expanding benefits. As the Urban Institute found …
SNAP can even go beyond preventing poverty and to promoting racial equity. Even people who are not SNAP recipients benefit from the program: each dollar in federally funded SNAP benefits generates $1.79 in economic activity. A fully-funded SNAP helps countless Americans, and yet, some elected officials are still threatening SNAP and other anti-hunger programs.
With a divided Congress, SNAP could suffer further cuts or restrictions, as we saw in this summer’s debt ceiling agreement. The House Appropriations Committee just passed a 2024 funding bill which would cut federal nutrition program funding to the lowest levels they’ve been at since 2006. As the Food Research and Action Center argues …
The bill continues the assault on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), the nation’s first line of defense against hunger that helps people keep food on the table and supports local economies. It would inflict further harm and increase food insecurity by arbitrarily throwing people off SNAP by increasing the age of those unemployed and underemployed adults who face arbitrary three-month time limits on SNAP eligibility, from 18 to 56, unless they document sufficient monthly work hours. The bill also would undermine states’ flexibility to use accumulated time-limit exemptions in future years.
The bill also would restrict SNAP consumers’ food choices. This will create a standard that will undermine dignity, increase stigma, and cause confusion and complications for shoppers, retailers, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture to implement. This would particularly burden smaller retailers in rural and urban markets.
And although some in Congress might berate the Farm Bill’s $1.5 trillion sticker price, it is important to remember that the money is for expenditures over the course of five years, meaning a total expense of around $302 billion per year. From a broader perspective, from 2024 to 2033, spending on the 2023 Farm Bill will only account for 2.4 percent of total federal government expenditures.
While Congress is in its summer recess, now is the time to make sure the Farm Bill protects SNAP and related nutrition programs. Although only a fraction of federal spending, today’s Farm Bill will impact the wellness of millions of Americans for years to come.