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Food programs in DC spotlight

Food assistance programs are under the spotlight on Capitol Hill. Republican Congressman Steve King of Iowa has re-introduced his No Hungry Kids Act that would repeal the USDA rule on new school meal standards.  It would remove the maximum calorie limit of those meats and King says it would “protect the rights of parents to send their children to school with the foods of their choice.”

The House Budget Committee has plans to convert Supplemental Nutritional Assistance, or SNAP, into a block grant program.

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities says that plan would cut the SNAP program by more than one third between 2021 and 2025.  The cuts would amount to $125 Billion and states would have to cut millions of residents from the food assistance program.

And, House Ag Committee Chair Mike Conaway has praised Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack for announcing the 10 pilot projects created by Congress in the 2014 Farm Bill that would help “abled-bodied SNAP recipients” find work.