SENATE REALLOCATES SNAP FUNDS TO PAY FOR CHILD NUTRITION, STATE AID
News Date August 10, 2010
Lawmakers siphoned $14.1 billion from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) to pay for the child nutrition and state fiscal aid bills that passed the Senate last week. The SNAP program was considered a prime target from which to borrow because of an infusion of funding it had received from the economic recovery act passed last year. In paying for the two bills, Senators moved up the sunset date for a benefit increase that was included in the recovery act last year from spring 2015 to November 2013. Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-AR) claimed that had she not redirected the funds from SNAP for the reauthorization, the funds would have been reallocated elsewhere.
The move to use the SNAP funds to cover increased child nutrition spending came after Lincon’s earlier attempt to divert funds from the popular Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) ran in to stiff opposition from environmental groups, agricultural groups, and a number of Republicans in Congress. (Contact: Brad McKinney)