MADISON, Wis. — On Sep 12th, the Cap Times reported that Derrick Van Orden and Republicans in the House Committee on Agriculture have spent over a year delaying the passage of a critical Farm Bill in their mission to cut Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, which over 700,00 Wisconsinites rely on to feed their families.

Republicans’ proposed Farm Bill would force a monthly cut in SNAP benefits that expands over time, causing more low-income families to struggle to pay for groceries. While Derrick Van Orden and Republicans in Congress are playing games to put the assistance hundreds of thousands of Wisconsin families need to survive on the chopping block, Democrats are fighting to protect these essential benefits and pass a Farm Bill that actually supports family farms and producers.

The Capitol Times: Fight Over Food Stamps Could Delay Critical U.S. Farm Bill
By: Erin McGroarty

Food stamps used by tens of thousands of Wisconsin families are on the chopping block in a Republican draft of the federal farm bill, and an impasse over the proposed cut threatens to hinder a much larger spending package that provides subsidies for farmers across the country.

The version of the bill proposed by the House Committee on Agriculture in May makes a number of changes to the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, known as SNAP, the most notable of which is a shift in policy that would effectively cut $30 billion in benefits over the next decade.

A breakdown of the funding shows families enrolled in the program would lose a day’s worth of benefits each month beginning in 2027, eventually expanding to a cut of two days’ worth of benefits each month by the end of the budget window, according to estimates from the Congressional Budget Office. 

As it stands, an individual person enrolled in SNAP benefits receives $7 per day. 

Data from 2022 shows more than 700,000 Wisconsinites were enrolled in the state’s FoodShare program — the state system within which SNAP benefits are regulated and distributed — making up about 12% of the state population. 

Each person enrolled in the program receives an average of $164 a month to spend on groceries.

Wisconsin’s congressional delegation has one member on the 54-member agriculture committee: Rep. Derrick Van Orden, R-Prairie du Chien. 

Van Orden did not directly respond to a request for comment for this article. Instead, he issued a statement through a spokesperson who denied the committee proposal would cut benefits, saying the assessment “assumes that benefits would be adjusted by a future administration without consulting Congress first.” 

This exact thing happened in 2021 when President Joe Biden’s administration bypassed Congress to expand a provision in the Thrifty Food Program that assesses which foods are considered healthy and cost-effective. 

The House agriculture committee’s proposal would freeze the Thrifty Food calculation to account for inflation only.

Van Orden’s office said the congressman is “against cutting SNAP benefits,” but in May he voted in favor of the committee’s proposed cut to the program. 

The agriculture committee’s program includes some expansion of benefits, including allowing people with former drug-related felony convictions to qualify for benefits once released from prison. 

The farm bill — which contains the spending framework for SNAP benefits — is supposed to be updated every five years, but Congress failed to pass a reauthorization of the bill in 2023. 

Instead, lawmakers approved a temporary extension of the last iteration of the bill, meaning many of the programs within the spending package are operating at 2018 levels, the last time the legislation was revised by Congress.

U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore, D-Milwaukee, criticized what she sees as Republicans blocking progress on the farm bill over a partisan play to cut SNAP benefits. 

“The farm bill has such a big impact on our country, both rural and urban communities. Its conservation, nutrition and other programs are critical to supporting farmers, ranchers, families, and a healthy ecosystem,” Moore said in a written statement emailed to the Cap Times. “House Republicans have shown in this Congress that every time there is a partisan path and a bipartisan path, they will choose the partisan path. Their political games mean that a new farm bill won’t be advanced for several months, potentially during the next Congress. That’s a shame for everyone who relies on this bill.”

A collection of more than 300 farm groups across the country sent a letter to congressional leaders urging lawmakers to approve an updated version of the bill to account for significant social and financial changes since 2018. 

“Since the 2018 farm bill was signed into law, we have realized considerable gaps in the farm safety net due to sharply changing conditions, including the trade war with China, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, COVID-19, and related supply chain challenges, rising foreign subsidies, tariffs, non-tariff trade barriers and other harmful practices,” the letter said. “These conditions seriously tested the effectiveness of the 2018 farm bill, and it was only by the aggressive use of supplemental assistance that many farms survived.”

The Wisconsin Corn Growers Association and the Wisconsin Soybean Association were among those who signed the letter, as well as the Midwest Council on Agriculture, Midwest Dairy Coalition, Midwest Dry Bean Coalition and Dairy Farmers of America.

Dane County-area Democrat Rep. Mark Pocan told the Cap Times the House as a whole won’t pick up the committee’s version of the farm bill “because it’s so extreme.”

“It seems interesting because, especially in national campaigns and in the presidential race, we’re hearing a lot about inflation and increased prices and a lot of Republican candidates are really kind of zeroing in on blaming the Biden administration for higher costs at grocery stores,” Pocan said. “But then they will also propose legislation that would cut benefits that help people afford groceries.”

As a social experiment when he joined Congress, Pocan challenged himself to live on a food budget matching that of a weekly SNAP allowance — approximately $40 a week. 

“I bought a bag of oranges. That was 20% of my budget,” Pocan said. “It was hard. It’s just not a lot of money. And certainly $40 now, I mean 12 years later, is even less money actually, in real terms, than from back then.”

The Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry has not passed a proposal for the farm bill. Michigan Sen. Debbie Stabenow, who chairs the committee, told reporters in June the House committee’s version of the bill would not pass in the Senate. 

Wisconsin Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Madison, told the Cap Times she would not support any proposed reductions in SNAP benefits. 

“Drastic cuts to food assistance are not just numbers — they represent real Wisconsin families who rely on these programs to keep food on the table and prevent kids from going to bed without dinner,” Baldwin said in a written statement emailed to the Cap Times.

U.S. Reps. Scott Fitzgerald, R-Juneau, Glenn Grothman, R-Greenbush, Bryan Steil, R-Janesville, and Tom Tiffany, R-Hazelhurst, did not respond to multiple requests for comment on where they stood on SNAP benefits and whether they would vote to cut the program. Nor did U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Oshkosh.