An Urban's Rural View

Farm bill politics, they say, are regional, not partisan. But are they right?

Certainly there are examples bearing out the conventional wisdom. The commodity title of this year's Senate Agriculture Committee bill will look different with Thad Cochran of Mississippi as senior Republican member than last year's, when Pat Roberts of Kansas held that post. Both Republicans, different regions.

The conventional wisdom, alas, ignores food stamps' role in the farm bill. It's a leading role -- 70% of the bucks -- and the Congressional debate over food stamps is always partisan. This year it will, if anything, be more partisan than usual.

To pass a farm bill on the floor of the Republican-controlled House, big cuts in food stamps will be essential. Even the $20 billion over 10 years that ag-committee chair Frank Lucas is planning may not suffice. Programs like food stamps are red meat for the GOP government shrinkers.

To get a farm bill out of the Democratic-controlled Senate, on the other hand, any cuts must be held to a minimum. Even the $4 billion in last year's Senate bill was a stretch for many Democratic senators, who like big government and see food stamps as both economic stimulus and the least we can do for the poor.

Chances are, then, a House-Senate conference committee would be looking at a gap of at least $16 billion. Let's say the conferees split the difference. Could a final bill with only $12 billion in food-stamp cuts carry the day in the House? Could one with as much as $12 billion in cuts pass the Senate?

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Don't be surprised if in the debates ahead partisans on both sides cite a recent Washington Post story about a food-stamp "recruiter" in Florida (http://tiny.cc/…). It's a riveting read that has something for everybody.

Republicans will pounce on the potential for abuse in the states' recruiting drives to expand the food-stamp program, also known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP. They'll cite passages like these:

"A decade ago, only about half of eligible Americans chose to sign up for food stamps. Now that number is 75%.

"Rhode Island hosts SNAP-themed bingo games for the elderly. Alabama hands out fliers that read: 'Be a patriot. Bring your food stamp money home.' Three states in the Midwest throw food-stamp parties where new recipients sign up en masse."

Democrats will point out the reluctance to take handouts that looms large in the Post account. They'll cite the example the story focuses on, the 60-year-old man with an almost-empty refrigerator who didn't want to be a burden on the government, who said he and his wife had made "horrible mistakes" and should dig their own way out of the hole they were in.

"Wasn't it his fault that he had flushed 40 years of savings into a bad investment, buying a fleet of delivery trucks just as the economy crashed? Wasn't it his fault that he and his wife, Celeste, had missed mortgage payments on the house where they raised five kids, forcing the bank to foreclose in 2012? Wasn't it his fault the only place they could afford was an abandoned mobile home in Spanish Lakes, bought for the entirety of their savings, $750 in cash?"

By the end of the Post story the man still hadn't been convinced to accept food stamps.

By the end of the farm-bill story, if there's to be a farm-bill story, the two parties will have to find a way to reconcile their differences about food stamps. It will be interesting to see how they do it.

(AG)

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