U.S. House Republicans propose food stamp changes for Farm Bill
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Among the proposed changes is a plan to raise the age to 59 from 49 for recipients to be required to meet certain work requirements in order to receive food stamps.
About 40 million individuals currently benefit from the food stamps program, officially known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).
The changes to SNAP, sought by conservative House Republicans and the administration of President Donald Trump, could make it difficult to get the votes needed from Democrats to pass the bill, however.
“It makes no sense to put the farmers and rural communities who rely on the Farm Bill’s safety net programs at risk in pursuit of partisan ideology on SNAP,” Collin Peterson, a Minnesota Democrat and the ranking member on the House Agriculture Committee, said in a statement.
“This bill attempts to change SNAP from a feeding program to a work program.”
However, House Agriculture Committee Chairman Michael Conaway of Texas, a Republican, defended the proposals, saying they would help people “springboard out of poverty to a good paying job.” ■