WASHINGTON - The GOP-led House voted Thursday to trim spending on food stamps by $39 billion over 10 years, cutting off benefits to 3.8 million Americans, including 71,000 in Louisiana, according to estimates by the Agriculture Department and congressional budget staffers. The 5 percent cuts are likely to be scaled back when a House-Senate Conference Committee meets to resolve...
WASHINGTON - The GOP-led House voted Thursday to trim spending on food stamps by $39 billion over 10 years, cutting off benefits to 3.8 million Americans, including 71,000 in Louisiana, according to estimates by the Agriculture Department and congressional budget staffers.
The 5 percent cuts are likely to be scaled back when a House-Senate Conference Committee meets to resolve differences between the two chambers. The Senate-passed farm bill included $4 billion in cuts over 10 years, just 10 percent of the reductions approved by the House.
The House vote was 217-210, with all Democrats and 15 Republicans voting no.
Rep. Steve Scalise, R-Jefferson, said at a time when many Americans are struggling, it's unfair to ask taxpayers to provide continued food stamp benefits to people who turn down jobs. He also said that there's significant fraud in the program, allowing cuts to be made without cutting benefits to people who truly need them.
Some Republicans cited a recent report by Fox News that profiled a self-proclaimed "surfer dude," who told the network's reporter he's not really interested in taking a regular day job because it would hurt his chances of developing a musical career.
Rep. Cedric Richmond, D-New Orleans, said people who don't meet the program's qualifications -- he contends fraud levels are very low -- should be taken off the program. "But it makes no sense to deny benefits to millions of families and children who depend on food stamps," he said.
Originally, Republicans wrote a farm bill with $20 billion in cuts. But conservative Republicans said that wasn't enough, and pressured their leadership to remove the benefits from a farm bill and double the cuts to $40 billion in the legislation taken up Thursday.
One change, included in the House passed bill, would end a waiver program that allows states in high unemployment areas to waive a requirement that limits benefits for jobless adults without children to three months every three years. In Louisiana, there were 62,953 households receiving the waiver, as of June, according to the Department of Children and Family Services.
About 941,000 people receive food stamps in Louisiana, or one in five state residents. The program is now formally known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
The House food stamp bill bars convicted murderers, rapists and pedophiles from receiving food stamps. Sen. David Vitter, R-La., added similar restrictions to the Senate-passed farm bill.
The House bill would allow states to cut off food assistance benefits, including their children's, if the parents cannot find a job or job training slot. It would provide incentives for states to cut recipients because they'd be able to keep half the savings and use the revenue for any purpose.
The House bill raised concern from officials who run programs that provide food assistance in Metro New Orleans and beyond.
"This is America, and if we can't make sure our own people are fed appropriately, I think that is very disturbing," said Tim Robertson, director of Food for Families.
Natalie Jayroe, president of Second Harvest Food Bank, said non-government groups just don't have the resources to pick up the slack.
"We're talking about adults who just can't find work in the current economy and other adults who do work but don't make enough to provide their families with enough food," Jayroe said. "We believe these cuts would add to the level of desperation that too many people in our country face."
Currently, benefits average about $1.50 per meal, per participant. Eligibility is limited to households with gross income of no more than 130 percent of the federal poverty guideline, but 83 percent of food stamp households have gross income at or below 100 percent of the poverty guideline, or $19,530 for a family of three, according to the Agriculture Department.
Republicans have criticized the Obama administration for promoting information about the food stamp program, to encourage the estimated 12 million people, eligible in 2010 who failed to apply, to sign up.
Scalise has called the program an "out of control welfare program" that the country can't afford. It's time to implement the "kind of work requirements" advanced during the 1990s for welfare under a deal between Democratic President Bill Clinton and the Republican House, Scalise said.
About 12.5 percent of residents in Scalise's First Congressional District receive food stamps, lowest among the state's six House Districts.
"I'm all for making good use of federal dollars," said Robertson of Food for Families. "But I think these proposed food stamp cuts go a little bit past that. Putting additional barriers up there for participation is going to mean more people go hungry."
The hope was that the improved economy would lower food-stamp rolls, but much of the recent job growth has been in low-wage service jobs that don't pay enough for workers to feed their families without food stamp help, according to Jayroe of Second Harvest.
A recent Agriculture Department report said the program, while providing, on average, $1.50 per meal per recipient, had made the difference between children going to bed hungry at night and getting at least the bare minimum they needed to stay healthy.
"The results of this study reiterate the vital role of (food stamps) in reducing hunger and ensuring that the next generation has access to the nutritious food it needs to grow up healthy and strong," said Agriculture Under Secretary Kevin Concannon.
House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., who worked with Scalise and other lawmakers to draft the new food stamp legislation, said Republicans aren't being heartless.
"The reforms made by this bill will put people on the path to self-sufficiency and independence," Cantor said. "I also want to say that there's been a lot of demagoguery around this bill -- and unfortunately a lot of misinformation. The truth is anyone subjected to the work requirements under this bill, who are able-bodied under 50, will not be denied benefits if only they are willing to sign up for the opportunity for work."