House Democrats are warning Republican colleagues that passing a farm bill will be impossible if nutrition benefits are slashed in the forthcoming GOP reconciliation bill.
The budget proposal adopted by House Republicans last week calls for the Agriculture Committee to find $230 billion in cuts — much of which is expected to come from spending on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), which provides food help for more than 42 million low-income Americans.
Rep. Angie Craig (D-Minn.), the panel’s ranking member, said she is encouraging fellow Democrats to hold the line against cuts to nutrition aid by embracing the farm bill threat. If Republicans go through with their plan, Craig warns, they risk losing a major farm bill pay-for and alienating the bipartisan coalition that has led previous farm bill negotiations.
“If you cut $230 billion from one of the programs, one of the titles in the farm bill, then they’re actually putting the farm bill itself in jeopardy,” she said.
