Alyssa Huang is a law student in the HLS Food Law & Policy Clinic and a guest contributor to this blog.
On February 16, the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry held a hearing to talk about Nutrition Programs in the Farm Bill. The committee invited two witnesses—Stacy Dean, the Deputy Under Secretary for Food, Nutrition, and Consumer Services at USDA, and Cindy Long, the Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) Administrator. The testimony largely advocated for strengthening the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP) and USDA’s commitment to their federal programs that reduce hunger, promote nutrition, and alleviate hardship. The issues discussed included: SNAP funding and eligibility, the 2021 Thrifty Food Plan (TFP) re-evaluation, SNAP Employment & Training programs (SNAP E&T), SNAP Integrity, Healthy Fluid Milk Incentives (HFMI), Gus Schumacher Nutrition Incentives Program (GusNIP), and The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP) and Food Banks.
Chairwoman Stabenow started the hearing by highlighting the benefits of the 2021 re-evaluation of the Thrifty Food Plan (TFP). At the direction of Congress, updated methodology was used to calculate the updated cost of the Market Baskets for the reference family. This rose to $835.57 per month, a 21.03-percent increase. This modest increase, as emphasized by Chairwoman Stabenow, seeks to reduce national food-insecurity and increase access to nutritious foods. Ranking Member Boozman raised concerns regarding SNAP’s integrity, expansion, and funding due to the benefits increase. These opposing opinions of SNAP and other nutrition programs seemed to carry throughout the committee, indicating an ideological disparity between sides. For Senators of the Majority, major themes included: praising the strengthening of SNAP and increased access to food banks during the pandemic, repealing the SNAP ban for formerly incarcerated people, and further expanding nutrition programs. For Senators of the Minority, themes included: criticizing the cost effectiveness of SNAP, eliminating temporary pandemic polices that expanded SNAP coverage, and staunchly supporting dairy milk consumption. The table below breaks down specific policies raised by each Senator.
|
Majority (Democrat) |
Minority (Republican) |
| Senator Brown:
· Attending to environmental crisis in Ohio |
Senator Hoeven:
· Support for increased food access but must be cost-effective · Concern over SNAP’s integrity due to dual participation and benefit theft |
| Senator Klobuchar:
· SNAP E&T helps participants overcome barriers to employment · SNAP online presents challenges for those in rural areas with few retailers that must serve large areas · Increase consistent access to foodbanks |
Senator Ernst:
· Dairy milk consumption should be of the utmost importance · The amount of able-bodied people in this country not going out to get available jobs and relying on the suspended work requirement for SNAP benefits calls SNAP’s integrity into question |
| Senator Gillibrand:
· The 2021 re-evaluation of the TFP, increase in benefits to SNAP, expansion of eligibility, and online ordering were needed to lift many—seniors, children, and disabled peoples—out of hunger. |
Senator Hyde-Smith:
· Distress over removal of animal proteins from publicly available meals (i.e., schools and hospitals) · Popular media attacks on animal agriculture in the name of mitigating climate change are misleading · Children’s health should not be sacrificed for climate change activism |
| Senator Smith:
· Foodbanks · Increasing food shelf data · Stimulate famers markets · Make electronic payment easier · The shortcomings (i.e., food not meeting the health or cultural needs of the people) of the Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations |
Senator Marshall:
· The consumption of whole milk is vitally important to children and nursing mothers · Eliminate waivers to get able-bodied, unemployed, men, off SNAP |
| Senator Durbin:
· Group care facilities for seniors, that provide meals supplemented by SNAP, were negatively affected by changes in USDA policy regarding facilities as instructions |
Senator Braun:
· Extremely worried about the budget due to increases in SNAP |
| Senator Booker:
· Formerly incarcerated people are particularly food insecure and are banned from receiving SNAP benefits which increases the risk of recidivism · Diet-related disease crisis, diabetes and obesity are national issues · Scale up nutrition programs, GusNIP and SNAP-Ed, which have proven to be effective |
Senator Grassley:
· Distraught over the expansion of SNAP, citing the fact that the unemployment rate is low, but SNAP enrollment is high · Highlighted the error rate of enrollment |
| Senator Warnock:
· Repeal the ban on ex-offenders, which worsens food-insecurity, to support successful re-entry
|
Senator Thune:
· Academic performance of children in school tapers as they get further away from their SNAP transfer · Hunger, nutrition, and health are deeply connected to disease · Increasing SNAP is financially unsustainable |
| Senator Welch:
· Support farmers in VT · Strengthen the nutrition program to meet the real needs of folks, bring in the community, and supply local foods to schools |
Senator Fischer: · TEFAP in Nebraska · Inflation at the grocery store · Successful prepackaged food boxes · Increase reach and resiliency grants · SNAP integrity called into question over error rates |
The views and opinions expressed on the FBLE Blog are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of FBLE. While we review posts for accuracy, we cannot guarantee the reliability and completeness of any legal analysis presented; posts on this Blog do not constitute legal advice. If you discover an error, please reach out to contact@farmbilllaw.org.
