This week, the House Agriculture and Ways and Means Committees advanced legislation to produce additional savings as required by the FY2013 budget resolution (H. Con. Res. 112). In a process known as budget reconciliation, the budget resolution instructs six committees – Agriculture, Energy and Commerce, Financial Services, Judiciary, Oversight and Government Reform, and Ways and Means – to produce by April 27 savings beyond those set forth in H. Con. Res. 112 (see The Source, 3/30/12).
Agriculture
On April 18, the House Agriculture Committee approved, by voice vote, the Agricultural Reconciliation Act. The measure would terminate on July 1, 2012, the increased funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP – formerly known as the food stamp program) provided in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (P.L. 111-5). Under the Recovery Act, the increased funds would have expired on October 31, 2013.
The measure would restrict categorical eligibility for SNAP to households receiving cash assistance through other low-income assistance programs and would repeal a provision in the Food and Nutrition Act (P.L. 110-246) that allows the federal government to share states’ costs for expenses incurred for resident employment and job training services. The amount allocated to states for such programs would be reduced from $90 million to $79 million. The measure also would reauthorize the Food and Nutrition Act through 2013.
According to the committee press release, the changes put forth in the legislation would “result in one-, five-, and ten-year saving estimates of $7.7 billion, $19.7 billion, and $33.2 billion, respectively.”
Ways and Means
On April 18, the House Ways and Means Committee approved three separate provisions that would provide for $53 billion in savings, as required by H. Con. Res. 112.
The first proposal, which the committee approved by voice vote, would require individuals who receive higher subsidies to help purchase health insurance through the state health insurance exchanges than allowed under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) (P.L. 111-148) to repay those funds. According to Chair David Camp (R-MI), this provision would reduce the deficit by $43.9 billion over ten years.
The second proposal, approved by a vote of 22-12, would require taxpayers to include their Social Security Numbers on their tax returns in order to claim the refundable child tax credit. It is estimated that the recommendation would save $7.6 billion over ten years by “deter[ing] fraud and abuse…by preventing those without Social Security Numbers, including illegal immigrants who are currently ineligible to work in the United States, from receiving checks from the [Internal Revenue Service] in the form of the refundable child tax credit.”
The third recommendation, approved by a vote of 22-14, would repeal the Social Services Block Grant (SSBG), which provides grants to the states to assist individuals and families reduce and eliminate their dependency on welfare programs and social services. SSBG includes funding for programs, such as child care, adoption and foster care services, family planning services, pregnancy and parenting services for young parents, and other health-related services. The proposal is estimated to save $1.4 billion in the next fiscal year.
