Deal scraps new work requirements for older food stamp recipients

WASHINGTON » A bipartisan deal on the multibillion-dollar farm bill would scrap new work requirements for some older food stamp recipients — rejecting a plan backed by House Republicans and President Donald Trump.

Lawmakers expect to vote next week on the tentative deal, announced Thursday by House and Senate negotiators.

Democrats and many Senate Republicans opposed the work requirements, which became the biggest stumbling block to an agreement on the farm bill. The legislation sets federal agricultural and food policy for five years and provides more than $400 billion in farm subsidies, conservation programs and food aid for the poor.

In a statement Thursday, House and Senate agriculture committee leaders from both parties said they had reached an agreement in principle but were working to finalize the bill’s language and costs.

“We still have more work to do. We are committed to delivering a new farm bill to America as quickly as possible,” said the statement by Sens. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., and Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., and Reps. Mike Conaway, R-Texas, and Collin Peterson, D-Minn.

Roberts and Conaway chair the Senate and House Agriculture committees, respectively, while Stabenow and Peterson are the top Democrats.

Rep. Mark Walker, a North Carolina Republican who leads a group of House conservatives, said he was disappointed that the bill appears to leave out the new work requirements, a top priority for many House Republicans and Trump.

“House conservatives, the president and the vast majority of Americans support policies that encourage work and help lift people out of poverty,” Walker said on Twitter. “As I’ve said for months, those provisions have to stay” in the bill.

Work requirements for food stamps, known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, were included in a bill that narrowly passed the House with no Democratic votes. A bipartisan version that won easy Senate approval did not include the requirements, and few Senate Republicans want them.

With the midterm elections turning control of the House over to Democrats, pressure increased on House Republicans to pass a compromise during the lame- duck session rather than start over in a Democratic- controlled chamber where the GOP was likely to suffer even greater policy losses.