House Agriculture Committee Republicans want to use the farm bill to improve the operation of programs such as the Supplemental Assistance Nutrition Program, the chairman of the the Nutrition, Foreign Agriculture, and Horticulture subcommittee says.
On this week's Agri-Pulse Newsmakers, Rep. Brad Finstad, R-Minn., continues Republicans' call for restrictions on the Thrifty Food Plan, an economic model that is used to determine SNAP benefits. Republicans say that would reduce projected SNAP spending by $30 billion, which could be reallocated to other parts of the farm bill.
Democrats on the committee recently laid out their priorities for the farm bill, opposing any cuts to the nutrition spending.
“Folks from my side of the aisle aren’t coming to us and saying we need to cut, cut, cut, cut, cut. They're saying let's preserve, protect and make sure that we're getting this to where it needs to go,” Finstad says about a SNAP overhaul.
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Finstad says the farm bill debate fight is really about taking back the “power of the purse” from the executive branch.
Brandon Lipps, principal at Caprock Strategies, and Mike Seyfert, president and CEO of the National Grain and Feed Association, also discuss the farm bill on this week's show, as well as cybersecurity in the agriculture industry.
Lipps says too many lawmakers are “drawing lines in the sand” on certain issues, which is further complicating passing a farm bill.
“The farm bill is about ensuring that we all have access to food and fiber in this country and the nutrition title is about ensuring that we all have access to food on our table, something that's universally agreed to by the Ag Committee, [but there are] some differences in opinions on how we get there," he says.
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