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How to pay for child nutrition & state aid

Some questions as to how the Senate plans to pay for the child nutrition bill and a state aid package they approved last week. The funding comes by rolling back a planned increase in food stamp spending contained in the economic recovery act approved last year.

The target date for food stamp reductions was initially rolled ahead to pay for a $26 billion state aid package designed to prevent layoffs of teachers and government workers. The original plan was to pay for the child nutrition bill with cuts in farm conservation programs but farm-state Senators balked at that idea. So Democratic leadership moved up the planned cut in food stamps from the spring of 2015 to November of 2013. Senate Ag Committee Chair Blanche Lincoln says the food stamp money was going to be grabbed by someone, this way the dollars are still going to feed children just through a different program.

But others, including Representative Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) who chairs the House Appropriations subcommittee for Agriculture are promising to reinstate the food stamp funding. The House is back in Washington this week to deal with the state aid package.