U.S. House Bill Threatens Food Stamp Program

A provision in welfare reform legislation passed by the House of Representatives on May 16 would open the way for states to make major changes in the Food Stamp Program. Known as a "superwaiver", this provision of H.R. 4737 would give the Executive Branch authority to approve state proposals to use federal funds in ways not authorized by Congress.

Advocates of the superwaiver emphasize the flexibility that states would have under this new arrangement. Behind the happy talk about flexibility lurks the most serious threat to the Food Stamp Program since the attempts by Newt Gingrich during the mid-'90s to block grant the entire Program to the states.

House leaders included the Food Stamp Program in the superwaiver late in the House process without any involvement by the House Agriculture Committee. Why the last-minute maneuvering? States will not be able to afford the costs of meeting the tougher new TANF requirements proposed by the Bush Administration, a fact Republican and Democrat governors alike made clear to Congress earlier this year. Giving states access to food stamp money for purposes other than food is designed to blunt the Governors' criticism.

H.R. 4737 also would authorize five states to turn the Food Stamp Program into a block grant. Under that arrangement, a state would agree to cap its access to federal food stamp funds in return for the authority to make its own food stamp rules.

According to Stacy Dean, an analyst with the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, states already have a lot of flexibility to innovate in the Food Stamp Program. "The U.S. Department of Agriculture has long had the authority to give states waivers. And the Farm Bill recently signed by President Bush gives states more options to coordinate and streamline programs. But always in the past Congress has put limits on that flexibility. States have not been permitted to cut benefits more than 20 percent across-the-board, to make entire categories of low-income households ineligible, or to charge sales tax on food purchased with food stamps. With the superwaiver those limits would be gone."

Here in Pennsylvania, the superwaiver would open a Pandora's Box of bad choices. "We're facing a fiscal crisis," said Berry Friesen of Hunger Action. "We don't know how the Commonwealth will meet all of its obligations. The President's welfare reform proposal would make matters worse because it includes new, unfunded mandates. In this situation, cutting food stamps would be much more popular than raising taxes. If Congress passes this superwaiver, Pennsylvania will face that choice."

Readers are encouraged to contact Pennsylvania's U.S. senators before the end of June about the dangers of including the Food Stamp Program in the superwaiver.

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