SNAP benefits update as Congress disputes threaten potential boost (2024)

SNAP benefits have become a major talking point on Capitol Hill as lawmakers fight their corners for the upcoming Farm Bill renewal. But one proposal could see food stamp increases halted for at least the next five years.

Proposals for the upcoming Farm Bill, which will expire later this year and covers the funding of key food benefits as well as wide-ranging agricultural support, have both garnered support from Republicans and Democrats. While both parties agree on some points, opposing ideas on what to do with the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), commonly known as food stamps, are proving something of a headache for lawmakers.

Both the Democratic and Republican plans propose increasing funding for the USDA's conservation programs, the Good Neighbor Authority anti-wildfire initiative, and federal programs aimed at expanding broadband internet access in rural areas. Both plans also aim to expand the range of crops eligible for federal crop insurance subsidies and to allow individuals convicted of drug-related felonies eligible to receive SNAP.

While lawmakers can agree on one element of SNAP, the rest is currently up in the air, as the Republican-controlled House seeks to spend less on food stamps.

Typically, SNAP payments are regularly adjusted to reflect changes in food prices, the cost of living, nutritional guidance, and other factors. However, the GOP's proposal would freeze SNAP payments at their current levels and block any future increases aside from annual inflation increases. The House Agriculture Committee passed the proposal last week.

The Senate, led by the Democrats, seeks to perform the inverse. That bill would keep the ongoing adjustment to SNAP payments over time, meaning beneficiaries would keep seeing an uptick in their food stamp amounts annually.

Democrats have heavily laid into the Republican plans. "This Farm Bill makes the largest financial cut to SNAP in 30 years and they're doing it at a time of greatest need for this SNAP program to serve our American people," David Scott, House Agriculture committee member said.

"This means that this legislation before us today ensures that $30 billion in SNAP benefits will not flow to low income households with children, to our senior citizens, our American people with disabilities, our courageous veterans... our working parents—our caretakers who need the help the most with getting good. That is a fact."

Republicans have denied the proposed freezing amounts to a cut in food benefits. "The 2024 Farm Bill will reassert Congressional intent by prescribing a cost-neutral process while taking into consideration food prices and composition, consumption patterns, and dietary guidance," Representative Glenn Thompson, who is chairman of the House Agriculture Committee, said in a statement in April this year.

"SNAP benefits will continue to be annually updated to reflect inflation. To be clear, House Republicans are not cutting, decreasing, or impacting SNAP benefits or eligibility for them."

What's next:

The likely result of Congress butting heads is an extension to the current Farm Bill, which came into law in 2018. It has already been extended by one year and will expire on September 30, 2024.

Typically, when the time comes to renew the Farm Bill, the two parties have usually managed to reconcile their demands to produce bipartisan legislation before the previous bill expires. This goes on to cover the next five years of farming, agriculture and the environment policy and funding.

In 2023, however, Congress was unable to reach such an agreement on new rules before the 2018 bill's expiration date. Instead, they extended the 2018 bill for an additional year. And the landscape of Congress has not changed since then: both chambers are controlled by either party, and both have very thin majorities. This makes the process of whittling down what will and what won't be in the Farm Bill more difficult, with sizable concessions likely to be made to get it over the line before September 30—if that happens at all.

Debbie Stabenow, author of the Democrat bill, has said she would rather see an extension to the 2018 legislation than pass a bill that freezes SNAP increases.

For now, both sides seem determined not to budge too far on their proposals. "I would love a new Farm Bill, but I'm not going to cut SNAP or sacrifice climate conservation money to do this," Stabenow told The Detroit News. "We have to negotiate. Certainly, we need a strong safety net for farmers and a strong safety net for families.

"I am not going to have my legacy be, for the first time in history, taking money out of the nutrition title to fund commodities or to weaken the conservation climate language." Stabenow is due to retire in 2025.

"The retiring senator may want to kick the can down the road, but America's producers deserve better than red lines and partisan bickering," a spokesperson for Thompson said, according to The Detroit News. "The House Agriculture Committee defied the naysayers by passing a Farm Bill out of committee with bipartisan support. It's time for Senate Democrats to catch up and do the jobs they were sent here to do."

What does this mean for SNAP?

If the 2018 Farm Bill is extended, it means that SNAP will still be subject to the five-year reevaluation plan, which increases food benefits.

In the event that legislation is completed prior to the September cut off - and it remains to be seen what the final Farm Bill will contain - if Republicans cede to the Democrats, SNAP benefit increases will continue as normal with the continuation of the five-year reevaluation. This that either of those outcomes would see SNAP benefits topped up as the legislation runs its course.

If Republicans come out on top, increases will be frozen, with future boosts ruled out until the next Farm Bill, in which the matter will be considered again. Inflation adjustments would continue as normal.

Which proposal do you agree with? If you're an individual who collects SNAP, a charity working with needy families, or a farmer who will be impacted by the delay of the Farm Bill, get in touch at a.higham@newsweek.com.