House Votes To Slash Food Stamps by $40 Billion

When House Republicans first started talking about plans to trim the nation's food stamp program, they were looking at $20-30 billion in cuts.

Today, the House voted for $40 billion in cuts to a $65 billion annual Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program(SNAP) that feeds millions of Americans, including about 90,000 in Monterey County.

The Congressional Budget Office estimates this means some 3.8 million people could lose food stamps next year.

Congressman Sam Farr, D-Carmel, joined all other congressional Democrats in voting against the bill, which passed 217-210.

"Instead of working with the Senate leadership and the White House to find a compromise, the extremists in the House have decided to once again hold the entire Farm Bill hostage in an attempt to end a program that many Americans—including seniors, children and veterans—depend upon," Farr said in a statement.

SNAP (or its California version, CalFresh) has been included in some form in the U.S. Farm Bill every year since 1973. House Republicans have been pushing to decouple the programs, citing a preference to treat nutrition assistance and farming separately, and they voted to separate food stamps from the Farm Bill in July.

Farr gave an impassioned speech on the House floor before he voted to keep SNAP in the Farm Bill. “This bill essential destroys agriculture in the United States because we grow food to feed people and the USDA is responsible for both sides of that equation," he said. 

The cuts passed in the House today are about 10 times greater than the Senate's version. The Senate has also supported keeping nutrition attached to the Farm Bill, which includes agricultural subsidies. The two programs could be reunited, depending on what the two chambers decide as they try to find compromise between the differing Senate and House bills.