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UPDATE: House passes nutrition bill

The House of Representatives has passed the nutrition bill by a vote of 217 to 210.

The House previously passed the farm program portion of the Farm Bill.  With today’s passage of the food stamp portion of the bill, the House and Senate can now begin reconciling the differences between their respective bills in conference.

Following the vote, House Agriculture Committee chair Frank Lucas issued this statement:

“I remain committed to getting a five-year farm bill on the books this year. Today’s vote was another step toward that goal. The House passed a bill that makes common-sense reforms to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) that encourages and enables work participation, closes program loopholes, and eliminates waste, fraud and abuse while saving the American taxpayer nearly $40 billion. SNAP serves an important purpose to help Americans who are struggling, so it is equally important that we ensure the program is working in the most effective and efficient way. I look forward to continuing conversations with my House and Senate colleagues as we move toward a farm bill conference.”

In her statement following the House vote, Senate Agriculture Committee chairwoman Debbie Stabenow blasted House Republicans.

“We have never before seen this kind of partisanship injected into a Farm Bill,” Stabenow said. “Not only does this House bill represent a shameful attempt to kick millions of families in need off of food assistance, it’s also a monumental waste of time. The bill will never pass the Senate, and will never be signed by the President. 

Stabenow continued, “The good news is now that this vote is behind us, we are close to the finish line. If House Republican leaders drop the divisive issues, appoint conferees and work with us in a bipartisan way, we can finalize a farm bill that creates jobs, reforms agriculture policy, and reduces the deficit by tens of billions of dollars. It’s time to get a comprehensive farm bill done to give farmers and ranchers the certainty they need to continue growing the economy.”

As expected, the debate was very partisan and very emotional, with Democrats accusing Republicans of wanting to end hunger assistance by cutting funding to the food stamp program.

“There’s only one word that comes to mind—cruel,” said Representative Grace Meng, a Democrat from New York.  “Cruel to seniors, cruel to children, cruel to veterans—cruel to people struggling to survive with a shred of dignity.”

The bill would reduce spending on food stamps by $39 billion over 10 years, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.  An estimated 2.8 million people would lose eligibility for food stamps in an average year over the coming decade under two main provisions of the bill.

The main author of the legislation, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor of Virginia, defended the proposal.

“There’s been a lot of demagoguery of this bill, and unfortunately, a lot of misinformation,” Cantor said, “because the truth is anyone subjected to the work requirements under this bill who are able-bodied, under 50, will not be denied benefits if only they are willing to sign up for the opportunity to work.”