Conaway, King want food stamp reform in next Congress; Stabenow says it’s been done
April 11, 2014 | 11:44 AM
Two key House Republicans said this week they want a reexamination of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance in the next Congress, while Senate Agriculture Committee Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., pointed out that the new farm bill has changed the program.
Rep. Mike Conaway, R-Texas, who appears to be the most likely sucessor to House Agriculture Committee Chairman Frank Lucas, R-Okla., said that the examination of the food stamp program known as SNAP will be part of his pitch to the Republican Steering Committee when that committee discusses changes in chairmanships in November.
Conaway told the North American Agricultural Journalists on Tuesday that he wants to examine "What is going right with the program, what is going wrong? Why did we have a run up to 47 million in the last few years? I think that will lead to reforms."
Even though Congress engaged in a lengthy debate about food stamps as it considered the farm bill, Conaway said, “We did not lead the predicate as to why those reforms are good for the recipients, for the American people.”
“Most people would say we should have a food program,” he said.
The proposal by House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wis. to turn the program into a block grant to the states “could be part of the examination,” but he added, “There are some assumptions in there that might be aggressive in terms of how many people would be on the block grant.”
Asked whether he could be fair in the review since he voted for many of the changes that passed the House but did not end up in the final bill, Conaway noted that as a certified public accountant, he is accustomed to looking at the facts.
Conaway also noted that he would not chair the subcommittee in charge of the review and said he "would respect the subcommittee.”
On the issue of whether Congress should address what food stamp beneficiaries eat, Conaway said it is hard to legislate behavior, but that if “you take money from a roughneck” and redistribute it to other people “you should encourage good choices.”
Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, who chairs the subcommittee in charge of food stamps, also told the agricultural journalists that the way the governors have been increasing Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program payments to trigger increases in food stamp benefits means the program should be examined. He said he would like to “sever the heat-and-eat connection.”
“We can’t have a series of governors thumbing their nose at the U.S. Congress,” King said.
King also noted that his family had gone to Kansas to find work and that he believes families who moved north to factory jobs a generation ago should move again to where blue collar jobs are now located.
“If we are a country that believes you don’t have to move to get a job then you are going to have a perpetual welfare system,” he said.
Stabenow told the agricultural journalists, “we just did reform in the farm bill. It is important to note that the SNAP program has the lowest or almost the lowest error rate of any federal program.”
On the issue of whether the government will save the $8 billion over 10 years on food stamps that the Congressional Budget Office projected, Stabenow said, “We will have to see. We came to an agreement that we felt was important. CBO assumed some states would make higher payments.”
Rep. Mike Conaway, R-Texas, who appears to be the most likely sucessor to House Agriculture Committee Chairman Frank Lucas, R-Okla., said that the examination of the food stamp program known as SNAP will be part of his pitch to the Republican Steering Committee when that committee discusses changes in chairmanships in November.
Conaway told the North American Agricultural Journalists on Tuesday that he wants to examine "What is going right with the program, what is going wrong? Why did we have a run up to 47 million in the last few years? I think that will lead to reforms."
Even though Congress engaged in a lengthy debate about food stamps as it considered the farm bill, Conaway said, “We did not lead the predicate as to why those reforms are good for the recipients, for the American people.”
“Most people would say we should have a food program,” he said.
The proposal by House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wis. to turn the program into a block grant to the states “could be part of the examination,” but he added, “There are some assumptions in there that might be aggressive in terms of how many people would be on the block grant.”
Asked whether he could be fair in the review since he voted for many of the changes that passed the House but did not end up in the final bill, Conaway noted that as a certified public accountant, he is accustomed to looking at the facts.
Conaway also noted that he would not chair the subcommittee in charge of the review and said he "would respect the subcommittee.”
On the issue of whether Congress should address what food stamp beneficiaries eat, Conaway said it is hard to legislate behavior, but that if “you take money from a roughneck” and redistribute it to other people “you should encourage good choices.”
Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, who chairs the subcommittee in charge of food stamps, also told the agricultural journalists that the way the governors have been increasing Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program payments to trigger increases in food stamp benefits means the program should be examined. He said he would like to “sever the heat-and-eat connection.”
“We can’t have a series of governors thumbing their nose at the U.S. Congress,” King said.
King also noted that his family had gone to Kansas to find work and that he believes families who moved north to factory jobs a generation ago should move again to where blue collar jobs are now located.
“If we are a country that believes you don’t have to move to get a job then you are going to have a perpetual welfare system,” he said.
Stabenow told the agricultural journalists, “we just did reform in the farm bill. It is important to note that the SNAP program has the lowest or almost the lowest error rate of any federal program.”
On the issue of whether the government will save the $8 billion over 10 years on food stamps that the Congressional Budget Office projected, Stabenow said, “We will have to see. We came to an agreement that we felt was important. CBO assumed some states would make higher payments.”
