Congress unlikely to extend boosted food stamp aid ending Friday
WASHINGTON — Congress is poised to let a temporary boost in food stamp benefits end this week for more than 47 million Americans.
The extra Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program aid was included in the 2009 economic stimulus law.
Theassistance subsidizes purchases by lower-income families. Food stamp spending reached a record $78.4 billion in fiscal 2012 as annual average enrollment climbed 77 percent from 2007, government data show.
Unless a change is enacted before Friday — and none is scheduled for a vote in Congress — benefits for a family of four will fall by$36 a month, according to the Department of Agriculture.
At maximum benefit levels in the 48 contiguous states and the District of Columbia, that works out to about 5 percent less for that family of four.
“It’s not going to get any easier for any of our families on Nov. 1,” said Sarah LeStrange, a spokeswoman for the Capital Area Food Bank of Texas in Austin, which serves 300,000 people a year. “They don’t need that money less.”
The drop in benefits is frustrating, LeStrange said.
“We can’t tell people to call their representatives because it’s too late,” she said.
Rep. John Conyers, DMich., introduced a bill to extend the aid increase through fiscal 2016. The measure, filed on Sept. 17, has 55 co-sponsors, all Democrats. It hasn’t been scheduled for committee action.
Rep. Michael Conaway, R-Texas, a member of a House-Senate panel working on a farm subsidy bill that includes food stamps, said he expects no debate on reviving the higher level of benefits.
Ending the increase is settled, Conaway said.
Monthly enrollment for the aid peaked in December at 47.8 million and was 47.6 million in July, according to the most recent USDA data.
In 2007, about 26.3 million Americans received food stamps at a cost to taxpayers of about $33.2 billion, the data show.
The House-Senate committee considering the larger legislation, known as the farm bill, is scheduled to meet for the first time Wednesday. The two sides are furthest apart on funding food stamps.
Democrats who control the Senate would cut $4 billion over 10 years. Republicans who run the House would take out almost 10 times that much, $39 billion, over a decade.