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Lawmaker says Senate Ag bill likely will not include SNAP extension as Democrats press for it
Summary
Senate leaders said the farm bill expected from the Agriculture Committee will not include a two-year SNAP extension Democrats are seeking; the discussion highlighted prior SNAP reforms, work requirements and the need for bipartisan support to advance a farm bill.
A lawmaker told reporters that the farm bill expected to be reported out of the Senate Agriculture Committee "does not include a provision dealing with SNAP." The comment came after a reporter said Democrats were pressing for a two-year extension to fund SNAP as the price for supporting the farm bill.
The lawmaker defended recent reforms to SNAP enacted last year, saying some changes "benefit from reforms" and that prior reforms included work requirements. "Those work requirements were less strenuous, less restrictive than the work requirements included in the Clinton administration 30 years ago," the lawmaker said, arguing the measures were broadly supported and aimed at reducing state-level abuses of the program.
The reporter had tied the SNAP demand to Chairman Roberts' work on the farm bill; the lawmaker said passage out of the Agriculture Committee and eventual floor action will depend on bipartisan support. "It's all going to depend largely on what comes together in the next few weeks," the lawmaker said, noting that achieving 60 votes for cloture on the floor will require agreement across party lines.
The transcript did not record a formal vote or the exact text of Chairman Roberts' bill; the lawmaker said the committee-reported bill as described to reporters would omit the SNAP extension. Details about any specific statutory language or enforcement mechanisms for SNAP reforms were not provided in the transcript.
The committee named in the discussion is the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry; the transcript referenced "Chairman Roberts' bill" in relation to that committee.
The session closed with the leaders saying they would consider scheduling and priorities after the July 4 recess, with floor and committee timing dependent on negotiations and whether items can draw bipartisan support.
