Food Stamps

Mere hours after President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address, the Farm Bill—which directly affects food stamps—was passed with the House approving it 251-166. Further, White House spokesperson Jay Carney said Obama will sign the bill once it reaches his desk.

Farm Bill

While the bill was agricultural in nature, a large portion of it was tied to food stamps. Republicans were dedicated to cutting billions of dollars from food stamps over the next decade to steer the country in a more economically independent direction, while Democrats wanted to preserve the billions to ensure a safety net for poor citizens. What ended up happening was about $800 million/year would be cut for a total of $80 billion for the decade, or 1% (the House had wanted 5%, or $4 billion/year|$40 billion/decade.)

Bad News

Democrats see any cuts to the program—as long as people still need it—as a net loss. And even though the cuts amount to only 20% of what Republicans were originally aiming for, $800 million a year is still a lot. Further, another $11 billion over three years will also be lost as stimulus funding for food stamps expires. A sliver of good news is present, though, as $5 billion was immediately lost in October, and the other $6 billion will disappear more slowly until 2016. But a loss is still a loss, with food pantries, Democrats and SNAP recipients all reeling from the shock of it.

Good News

Though Republicans wanted deep cuts, they ended up voting for a bill that only contained 20% of the original amount. This means hugely less cuts to food stamps recipients, enabling more of them to maintain independence as they try and bootstrap themselves to the next level. Further, the contentious “heat and eat” policy—food stamps recipients got extra money for the government related to rentals and utilities—wasn’t totally slashed, with the threshold raised to $20. This means that no people were cut from food stamps, just that some would receive less money from “heat and eat.”

Final Survey

Money for food stamps was cut, but not that much. “Heat and eat” is intact, but harder to qualify for. And both Democrats and Republicans had to make do with less than what they wanted. But the real message of the Farm Bill doesn’t have to do with numbers and figures, but with what’s hopefully a sign of the future. For the first time in years, both sides have worked together to reach a compromise instead of stubbornly holding out for exactly what they want.

And that’s the best news of all.

The Farm Bill recently passed with both good news and bad news for food stamps recipients. Billions of dollars will be cut from the program over the next 10 years, but not nearly as much as had originally anticipated.