The House voted Thursday to strengthen work requirements for many food stamp recipients, by approving a five-year farm bill that lawmakers rejected last month.
In a rare re-vote, lawmakers narrowly approved the 2018 Agriculture and Nutrition Act, an $867 billion bill authorizing farm programs and policy, as well as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, otherwise known as food stamps.
The bill passed about a month after it was defeated on the House floor by a group of conservatives who said they first wanted a long-promised vote on an immigration reform bill. Conservatives got their wish and voted Thursday on legislation authored by Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., that would limit immigration, end the visa lottery and chain migration programs, defund sanctuary cities and require companies to use E-verify.
The bill was rejected by Democrats and moderate Republicans, but that vote was enough to let conservatives support the farm bill this time around.
But even then, it just barely passed in a 213-211 vote, after 20 Republicans voted against it.
The House farm bill may be doomed, however, since it’s not expected to be approved in the Senate. The SNAP work requirements are almost universally opposed by Democrats, which makes the House version impossible to pass in the Senate, where at least ten Democrats will be needed to prevent a filibuster.
The Senate Agriculture Committee passed its own farm bill, written with Democrats. It does not include the House changes to the food stamp program.
Outside of the SNAP provisions, the House and Senate versions overlap, although the Senate bill makes fewer cuts to conservation programs than the House version.
[Also read: New jobless claims fall to 218,000 as overall number getting benefits declines]
The House legislation provides a five-year authorization of federal spending on dozens of other agriculture programs, including crop insurance, commodities, livestock disease prevention, and research.
But the vast majority of the bill is comprised of the food stamp program, which is where the two parties split. The House Farm bill bolsters the already existing federal law requiring able-bodied SNAP recipients to work by making it harder for states to employ waivers.
The bill would require anyone without young children who is under 60 and not disabled to either work 20 hours each week or attend a program to prepare them to work. The bill pours $1 billion into training programs for those who cannot find a job.
Republicans said the plan would help transition the nation’s ballooning welfare population back into the workforce at a time when the unemployment rate is shrinking and jobs are more widely available.
“This farm bill in no way, shape, or form disrespects Americans who depend on SNAP,” House Agriculture Committee Chairman Mike Conaway, R-Texas, said during debate last month. “To the contrary, the farm bill keeps faith with SNAP beneficiaries, providing needed benefits AND something more: the dignity that comes from work and the promise of a better life that a job brings.”
Democrats have declared the food stamp changes “cruel” and argued they would ultimately result in the federal government kicking millions off of food assistance.
Democrats are also opposed to spending $1 billion on job training because, they say, training programs are already in place. They calculated that the GOP plan would provide only meager training time and would be worthless.
Rep. Terry Sewell, a Democrat who represents a district that includes Birmingham, Ala., said her constituents who produce, sell, and buy food would be hurt by the bill.
“For children and working families, SNAP means the difference between a hot meal or going to bed hungry,” Sewell said. “For farmers and grocery stores, SNAP is an investment in our food system that creates 50,000 agricultural jobs.”
