On June 20, the House rejected, 195-234, the Federal Agriculture Reform and Risk Management Act (H.R. 1947), commonly known as the Farm Bill. The House Agriculture Committee approved the legislation on May 16 (see The Source, 5/17/13); the Senate approved its version of the Farm Bill – the Agriculture Reform, Food and Jobs Act of 2013 (S. 954) – on June 10 (see The Source, 6/14/13).
According to the committee report, the bill would have authorized $940 billion over ten years for domestic and international food assistance programs, among others. The Senate bill would have authorized $955 billion over ten years.
The measure proposed $20.5 billion in cuts over ten years to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), resulting from changes to the program’s eligibility requirements.
International food assistance programs would have been reauthorized under H.R. 1947. The Food for Peace Program (P.L. 480) would have been authorized at $2 billion annually through FY2018. The McGovern-Dole International Food for Education and Child Nutrition Program also would have been extended through FY2018.
Although the bill widely had been expected to pass the House, the measure lost support from Democrats following the adoption, 227-198, of an amendment by Rep. Steve Southerland (R-FL) to allow states to apply federal work requirements to SNAP. In addition, citing the need for cuts to SNAP beyond the $20.5 billion proposed in H.R. 1947, some Republicans also decided to vote against the bill.
