The Star - Farm Bill Must Fundamentally Reform Food Stamp Program

Op-Ed

By Rep. Andy Harris

Since late October, 41 members of a U.S. Senate and House Conference Committee have been working to find a compromise on the versions of the new farm bill that were passed in 2013 by both the Senate and House. There's talk that an agreement may finally take place this week. Time is of the essence because much of the local economy on the Shore is driven by the agriculture and poultry industries.

While there are many important programs included in a federal farm bill, the inclusion of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), or food stamps, surprises many. In fact, in the Senate's proposed bill, $760 billion out of $955 billion in farm bill spending over the next 10 years would go to food stamps. That means almost 80 percent of total spending would be food stamps.

Some analysts have indicated that the Conference Committee has decided to reduce, through small reforms, SNAP funding by a mere $900 million per year, or $9 billion over the next 10 years. This is far too small of a reform. The food stamp portion of the House's farm bill, on the other hand, would decrease SNAP program spending through reforms and new requirements on able-bodied beneficiaries by 5 percent over a 10-year period, making the program more accountable to you, the hard-working taxpayer.

I believe the food stamp program, which was meant to help our most needy citizens, is important. Created during the Great Depression in 1939, the food stamp program was once an efficient and effective one, assisting the poor to buy vegetables, milk and meats from their local farmers. Today, the program is plagued by fraud, abuse and out-of-control spending. In 2012, nationwide food stamp costs were roughly $80 billion, quadruple the cost as recently as 2000, and double the cost in 2008.

Today, 47.7 million Americans receive food stamps. That's one in seven Americans -- and a 70 percent increase since President Obama took office. Equally alarming statistics come from a recent Department of Agriculture report, which states that about 10.5 percent of all authorized SNAP stores engaged in illegal food stamp trafficking in 2009-2011. The USDA defines trafficking as the illegal exchange of SNAP benefits for cash.

We witnessed this right here in Maryland just last September, when a federal grand jury indicted 10 Baltimore business owners or operators on charges of stealing almost $7 million from the food stamp program. Instead of selling food, the grocers gave beneficiaries cash and kept a cut of the proceeds. One of the indicted was the owner of a grocery store in West Baltimore called "Second Obama Express" who allegedly obtained more than $2 million in payments for food sales that never happened.

Other fraudulent actions, as defined by the USDA, include lying on an application to get benefits or more benefits than one is supposed to get, or when a retailer has been disqualified from the program for past abuse and lies on the application to get into the program again.

We need to reverse this trend in the farm bill agreement and return to an era of accountability. We must ensure that those who need food stamps -- poor children and senior citizens, and those with disabilities that prevent them from working -- can get them. Anyone who can document their qualification should be able to receive assistance.

We must also reform eligibility standards to ensure that able-bodied food stamp recipients are either looking for work or in a job-training program -- requirements that have been in existence for years, but that are often waived by the states, including our own.

And so, as we await the details of the Conference Committee's compromise, let us hope they have worked to restore the integrity of a program meant for those who truly need it.

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