Boozman concerned about nutrition program spending in next farm bill

He points to 21% increase in SNAP benefits for covid

FILE - Sen. John Boozman, R-Ark., speaks on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, March 16, 2022. Boozman is running for reelection in the Arkansas Republican primary on May 24, 2022. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon File)
FILE - Sen. John Boozman, R-Ark., speaks on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, March 16, 2022. Boozman is running for reelection in the Arkansas Republican primary on May 24, 2022. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon File)


WASHINGTON -- U.S. Sen. John Boozman, R-Ark., raised concerns about projected spending increases with the coming farm bill, warning the estimated rise could make efforts to pass such legislation during this Congress more challenging.

Boozman shared his apprehensions during Thursday's Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee hearing on nutrition programs under the farm bill. The hearing was part of an ongoing review of the law, an expansive statute affecting issues like these programs in addition to commodities, agriculture research and rural development.

Lawmakers last passed a farm bill in December 2018, and the statute is set to expire at the end of September. Congress could extend the current law if they cannot reach a deal before the deadline.

"As we work our way through the titles of the farm bill, it's important for this committee to review our nutrition programs and make sure they are working as intended and being implemented properly by USDA like every other farm bill program," Boozman, the committee's top Republican, told colleagues.

Funding for nutrition programs will make up most of the next farm bill, with government researchers believing the nutrition title will account for more than 80% of the next measure's baseline spending. The Congressional Budget Office released a report Wednesday showing the agency estimates the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program -- commonly referred to as SNAP -- will cost $1.2 trillion over the next 10 years, an 8.4% increase from previous estimates.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, 42 million Americans -- including around 265,000 Arkansans -- participate in the program.

Spending for farm bill programs fluctuates depending on economic conditions; the SNAP program grew during the coronavirus pandemic because of increased need amid rising unemployment. Committee chairwoman Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., stressed this additional SNAP spending did not result in less money for other programs.

Boozman said the pandemic and inflation impacted costs, but additionally pointed to the Biden administration's decision to increase monthly SNAP benefits by 21% as a contributing factor. He criticized the USDA's decision impacting the Thrifty Food Plan, an agency food plan focused on ensuring families have nutritional meals with an emphasis on purchasing meals on a budget. Officials quickly reviewed the plan and made changes in 2021, resulting in an increase for the first time in 45 years.

"USDA knew the outcome it wanted and then backed into it," the Rogers senator said, adding that the "lack of good judgment" placed lawmakers in a more difficult position in passing a new farm bill.

"By leaning on the scales, they chose to disrupt the delicate balance of the farm bill coalition and severely eroded the trust that is crucial to legislate and to govern," the senator said.

"When one program constitutes more than 80% of the spending in the next farm bill -- and thereby effectively crowds out the ability to make crucial investments in every other title -- is there really any room left for farmers in the traditional farm bill coalition?"

Boozman said Congress did not approve an additional $250 billion, noting the Congressional Budget Office did not provide Congress with a cost estimate reflecting a unilateral decision without congressional input. The Congressional Budget Office tied its latest SNAP cost estimate to a projected cost increase regarding the Thrifty Food Plan.

"Congress had no intention of you doing that. None," Boozman told Cindy Long, the administrator of the USDA's Food and Nutrition Service. "If you understood that was going to happen, then you should have alerted Congress because it's not just $250 billion. What we're understanding now ... we're talking about another $90 billion."

Boozman contended the move will limit the farm bill's influence on other programs, yet Stabenow rejected that claim.

"We have such wonderful bipartisan support on the committee, but we, with all due respect, have a difference on how we approach this," she said. "Whether commodities go up and down or SNAP goes up and down, those monies aren't traded. They're totally separate programs."

Stabenow, who helped draft the 2018 farm bill, said the current law included language requesting an update to the food plan, which the Biden administration opted to do.

"There may be some disagreements on how that was done or whatever, but I will say in terms of the directive, it was a directive in the farm bill," she said.

Rep. Glenn Thompson, R-Pa., chairman of the House Agriculture Committee, said the Congressional Budget Office report shows the necessity of conducting oversight of the Biden administration, a leading priority of the Republican-controlled House.

Another issue among Republican committee members involved work requirements to participate in SNAP. Before the coronavirus pandemic, adults between the ages of 18 and 49 who did not have children would be eligible for only three months every three years unless they worked or participated in a training program for 20 hours or more each week. Congress suspended this requirement in early 2020 as unemployment rose because of the coronavirus pandemic.

The suspension will end later this year following the conclusion of the national coronavirus public health emergency in May.

"It is time for this exemption to end, and it's time for USDA to get serious about enforcing work requirements," Boozman said. "States should no longer be allowed to game the system. Jobs -- good jobs -- are plentiful."

The number of available jobs in the United States surpassed 11 million in December, according to Labor Department data released earlier this month.

Ed Bolen, director of SNAP State Strategies at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities research institute in Washington, D.C., told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette in an interview following the hearing that having a work requirement serves as a punitive instrument that hurts people struggling to secure part-time employment.

"You could be working 15 hours a week and get cut off. You might want to be working 25, but you can't get the shift or you do various gigs. You'll still lose benefits," he said. "To us, it seems like a harsh sort of cut-off that doesn't really test whether somebody is working or willing to work."

Bolen said there is a lack of evidence suggesting work requirements increase employment and earnings.

"What you've done is taken income away from a household that is reserved for food -- the SNAP benefit -- without increasing their earnings or employment, and that just increases hardship," he said.

Stabenow pushed against "harsh work requirements" during her statement opening the hearing, arguing the conditions prevent Americans from getting temporary assistance. She also voiced support for the SNAP Employment and Training program. Lawmakers expanded the initiative in the 2018 farm bill to provide more opportunities for SNAP participants to gain work experience and eventually employment.


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