House Appropriations Committee Bill Slashes Funding for SNAP, WIC

On June 14, the House Appropriations Committee marked up its FY 2024 Agriculture-FDA spending bill, along with the full slate of subcommittee allocations for all 12 appropriations bills. The FY 2024 Agriculture Appropriations bill would slash critical federal nutrition programs, especially the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), resulting in the lowest funding allocation since 2006. These programs help keep hunger at bay for people with low incomes in communities across the country. Adopted report language is available here.

The Food and Research Action Council (FRAC) put out this statement:

The bill continues the assault on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), the nation’s first line of defense against hunger that helps people keep food on the table and supports local economies. It would inflict further harm and increase food insecurity by arbitrarily throwing people off SNAP by increasing the age of those unemployed and underemployed adults who face arbitrary three-month time limits on SNAP eligibility, from 18 to 56, unless they document sufficient monthly work hours. The bill also would undermine states’ flexibility to use accumulated time-limit exemptions in future years.

The bill also would restrict SNAP consumers’ food choices. This will create a standard that will undermine dignity, increase stigma, and cause confusion and complications for shoppers, retailers, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture to implement. This would particularly burden smaller retailers in rural and urban markets.