Stabenow won't support Ryan food stamp program plan
June 09, 2011 | 10:00 AM
By JERRY HAGSTROM
Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., said Wednesday that she will not support the proposal of House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wis., to turn the food stamp program into a capped block grant to the states, but anti-hunger advocates are still planning a campaign to make sure the federal program remains in place.
“I don’t support it. I don’t think it makes sense,” Stabenow said in an interview Wednesday. “It doesn’t do anything for reform or make things more effective. Instead it would place more demands on the state side and would not address any legitimate issues.”
Ryan said the shift to a capped block grant would save $127 billion over 10 years. The proposed cut is much bigger than the $48 billion that Ryan would cut in farm programs, but it has gotten relatively little attention compared to his proposal to change the Medicare program.
Stabenow noted that the idea of block granting food stamps goes back to the Republican “Contract With America” in 1995, and that then-House Agriculture Committee Chairman Pat Roberts, now the ranking Republican on the Senate Agriculture Committee, opposed it.
“My friend Pat Roberts really led the effort to stop that from moving forward for the right reasons,” Stabenow said.
Since then, she said, there have been a number of changes and reforms to the food stamp program, (renamed the supplemental nutrition assistance program or SNAP).
The program has functioned well during the recession, Stabenow said.
“From the Michigan standpoint, we have people who have paid their taxes their whole life and never in their wildest dreams would they have thought they would have trouble putting food on the table. They have a temporary need and that’s what SNAP is there for. It should be there.”
She continued, “The best way to reduce the cost of SNAP is to focus on jobs, and that’s what the farm bill is all about.”
Stabenow said she would not support the block grant idea in the Senate Agriculture Committee, and that if another member raises it, she doubts it would receive majority support within the committee.
House Agriculture Committee ranking member Collin Peterson, D-Minn., and Agriculture Undersecretary for Food, Nutrition and Consumer Services Kevin Concannon also told The Hagstrom Report that they would oppose the proposal. Roberts and House Agriculture Committee Chairman Frank Lucas, R-Okla, issued statements that hinted they have reservations about it and other proposals Ryan has made.
Peterson said in an interview that block granting food stamps “is a very dumb idea amongst many [who are] driven by ideology. Even if they pass it, it probably wouldn’t save any money. It is not going to happen. The last thing we need is 52 different food stamp programs.”
He added, “Puerto Rico tried it and ended up having fraud and it cost more money. Indiana tried to privatize food stamps and it was a disaster. This is not a good idea.”
Peterson added that more people have needed food stamps in the recession. Noting that the number of food stamp participants has risen from 31 million to more than 44 million, Peterson said, “People are out of work and meet the criteria.” Many people don’t want to sign up and still don’t, but others have been forced by circumstance into the program, he said.
Concannon told The Hagstrom Report late Wednesday that he had served as a state public welfare official in Iowa and Maine, and observed that block grants for mental health care and welfare do not have the ability to respond to big changes in need while the food stamp program has grown in response to unemployment and the economic downturn.
If food stamps were turned into a block grant, he said, “What would we do if there were changes in the California economy?” He also noted that federal regulations on civil rights and other matters make sure the program is run the same nationwide.
In 1995, when Roberts convinced then House Speaker Newt Gingrich, R-Ga. not to drop food stamps, lobbyists noted that reauthorization of the food stamp program is vital to convincing urban and suburban House members to vote for the farm bill, whose farm and conservation programs have little or no direct impact on them.
Roberts has not made a campaign to keep the food stamp program this time around, but has been reserved in his comments on the Ryan proposal.
“I applaud Rep. Ryan for introducing a proposal to significantly reduce the deficit and put us on a path towards a balanced budget,” Roberts has said. “You must remember that this is just that – a proposal. It’s a place to start the debate. The Senate Agriculture Committee may have other ideas about what to cut and how to help trim our nation’s budget that will be best for those who have the responsibility of feeding a troubled and hungry world.”
Lucas has said, “"I commend Chairman Ryan for taking the first serious step in reining in our deficit.” But he added, “As for the policy suggestions that Chairman Ryan or the President use to reach the numbers they put in their budgets, they are simply suggestions. At the end of the day, members of the House Agriculture Committee and I will write the next farm bill.”
These statements would seem to indicate that food stamps or SNAP is safe, but attendees at a Food Research Action Center dinner Wednesday night said that they are taking no chances. Nearly 2,600 grassroots groups have signed a letter to all members of Congress calling the program “the nation’s first line of defense against hunger.” The letter also notes that the program was used to provide food purchasing power for victims of the hurricanes in the Gulf Coast states in 2005, and is being used this year to help victims of the floods and other natural disasters.
Matthew Melmed, president of Zero to Three, a group that promotes the health and development of infants and toddlers, and chairman of FRAC, said that federal nutrition programs including SNAP “are working well” and “have kept families from going hungry” during the recession, but are now under attack.
FRAC President Jim Weill said that block granting food stamps or SNAP “ is a bad idea and I think a lot of people have realized that. We are certainly hopeful it is not going anywhere. “
Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., said Wednesday that she will not support the proposal of House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wis., to turn the food stamp program into a capped block grant to the states, but anti-hunger advocates are still planning a campaign to make sure the federal program remains in place.
“I don’t support it. I don’t think it makes sense,” Stabenow said in an interview Wednesday. “It doesn’t do anything for reform or make things more effective. Instead it would place more demands on the state side and would not address any legitimate issues.”
Ryan said the shift to a capped block grant would save $127 billion over 10 years. The proposed cut is much bigger than the $48 billion that Ryan would cut in farm programs, but it has gotten relatively little attention compared to his proposal to change the Medicare program.
Stabenow noted that the idea of block granting food stamps goes back to the Republican “Contract With America” in 1995, and that then-House Agriculture Committee Chairman Pat Roberts, now the ranking Republican on the Senate Agriculture Committee, opposed it.
“My friend Pat Roberts really led the effort to stop that from moving forward for the right reasons,” Stabenow said.
Since then, she said, there have been a number of changes and reforms to the food stamp program, (renamed the supplemental nutrition assistance program or SNAP).
The program has functioned well during the recession, Stabenow said.
“From the Michigan standpoint, we have people who have paid their taxes their whole life and never in their wildest dreams would they have thought they would have trouble putting food on the table. They have a temporary need and that’s what SNAP is there for. It should be there.”
She continued, “The best way to reduce the cost of SNAP is to focus on jobs, and that’s what the farm bill is all about.”
Stabenow said she would not support the block grant idea in the Senate Agriculture Committee, and that if another member raises it, she doubts it would receive majority support within the committee.
House Agriculture Committee ranking member Collin Peterson, D-Minn., and Agriculture Undersecretary for Food, Nutrition and Consumer Services Kevin Concannon also told The Hagstrom Report that they would oppose the proposal. Roberts and House Agriculture Committee Chairman Frank Lucas, R-Okla, issued statements that hinted they have reservations about it and other proposals Ryan has made.
Peterson said in an interview that block granting food stamps “is a very dumb idea amongst many [who are] driven by ideology. Even if they pass it, it probably wouldn’t save any money. It is not going to happen. The last thing we need is 52 different food stamp programs.”
He added, “Puerto Rico tried it and ended up having fraud and it cost more money. Indiana tried to privatize food stamps and it was a disaster. This is not a good idea.”
Peterson added that more people have needed food stamps in the recession. Noting that the number of food stamp participants has risen from 31 million to more than 44 million, Peterson said, “People are out of work and meet the criteria.” Many people don’t want to sign up and still don’t, but others have been forced by circumstance into the program, he said.
Concannon told The Hagstrom Report late Wednesday that he had served as a state public welfare official in Iowa and Maine, and observed that block grants for mental health care and welfare do not have the ability to respond to big changes in need while the food stamp program has grown in response to unemployment and the economic downturn.
If food stamps were turned into a block grant, he said, “What would we do if there were changes in the California economy?” He also noted that federal regulations on civil rights and other matters make sure the program is run the same nationwide.
In 1995, when Roberts convinced then House Speaker Newt Gingrich, R-Ga. not to drop food stamps, lobbyists noted that reauthorization of the food stamp program is vital to convincing urban and suburban House members to vote for the farm bill, whose farm and conservation programs have little or no direct impact on them.
Roberts has not made a campaign to keep the food stamp program this time around, but has been reserved in his comments on the Ryan proposal.
“I applaud Rep. Ryan for introducing a proposal to significantly reduce the deficit and put us on a path towards a balanced budget,” Roberts has said. “You must remember that this is just that – a proposal. It’s a place to start the debate. The Senate Agriculture Committee may have other ideas about what to cut and how to help trim our nation’s budget that will be best for those who have the responsibility of feeding a troubled and hungry world.”
Lucas has said, “"I commend Chairman Ryan for taking the first serious step in reining in our deficit.” But he added, “As for the policy suggestions that Chairman Ryan or the President use to reach the numbers they put in their budgets, they are simply suggestions. At the end of the day, members of the House Agriculture Committee and I will write the next farm bill.”
These statements would seem to indicate that food stamps or SNAP is safe, but attendees at a Food Research Action Center dinner Wednesday night said that they are taking no chances. Nearly 2,600 grassroots groups have signed a letter to all members of Congress calling the program “the nation’s first line of defense against hunger.” The letter also notes that the program was used to provide food purchasing power for victims of the hurricanes in the Gulf Coast states in 2005, and is being used this year to help victims of the floods and other natural disasters.
Matthew Melmed, president of Zero to Three, a group that promotes the health and development of infants and toddlers, and chairman of FRAC, said that federal nutrition programs including SNAP “are working well” and “have kept families from going hungry” during the recession, but are now under attack.
FRAC President Jim Weill said that block granting food stamps or SNAP “ is a bad idea and I think a lot of people have realized that. We are certainly hopeful it is not going anywhere. “
