House Ag defeats food stamp amendments

{mosads}The committee also rejected by voice vote an amendment by Blue Dog Rep. Kurt Schrader (D-Ore.) to restore some of the cuts by adopting the Senate approach to granting food stamps to heating assistance recipients. The House bill requires individuals to get $20 in heating aid, while the Senate bill requires $10.

And it rejected a second McGovern amendment tying food stamp cuts to cutting waste in the crop insurance program. 

The cuts in the House farm bill are $16 billion more than included in the Senate Agriculture Committee bill’s $4 billion in cuts. The strong opposition by committee Democrats is a sign that the GOP will not be able to count on a large number of minority votes to pass the farm bill on the floor. 

Committee Chairman Frank Lucas (R-Okla.) joined with Democrats to oppose conservative attempts to deepen the food stamp cuts, including amendments by Reps. Randy Neugebauer (R-Texas) and Martha Roby (R-Ala.).