Still fuming over how the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program was handled in reconciliation and how rescissions clawed back congressionally approved spending, Democrats say Republicans have irrevocably damaged the traditionally bipartisan coalition that passes the farm bill.
“I’m sorry, this idea that we could just forget about what they just did. No, what they did is awful,” Democratic Rep. Jim McGovern, who sits on the House Agriculture Committee, recently told NOTUS. “I mean, millions of people are going to be hurt. So, you know, people can do whatever they want. I’m just speaking for myself. But I don’t want to deal with them until they fix the damage they did in reconciliation.”
Republicans cut an estimated $187 billion from SNAP over the next decade, which is about a 20% cut from a program that provides food benefits to about 40 million Americans. And instead of addressing SNAP through a farm bill, Republicans excluded Democrats from the process by using reconciliation.