A group of bipartisan lawmakers have come up with a deal on a farm bill. As part of this deal, food stamp benefits will be cut by about $800 million dollars a year. That means 850,000 people could lose as much as $90 worth of food stamps every month -- and that's on top of $5 billion that were cut from the program back in November. The new farm bill would last for the next five years. House leaders expect to pass the bill Wednesday.
The 949-page agreement, announced on Monday by members of the House and Senate Agriculture Committees, comes after almost two years of congressional infighting over the $1 trillion farm bill, which outlines federal spending on a range of agricultural and nutritional issues over the next five years.
The compromise would cut $8 billion from food stamps over a decade and would do so without ousting any current enrollees from the program, committee members said. It also largely sidesteps Republican lawmakers’ demands to taper spending with tighter food stamp eligibility requirements, instead cutting funding through provisions to curb fraud.
The broad measure also includes an end to expensive and controversial direct payments to farmers and an expansion of government-backed crop insurance. Overall, the proposal trims federal spending by about $23 billion over the next 10 years.
