House GOP Acts on Runaway Food Stamp Spending

With food stamp spending more than doubling in the last five years, the House GOP has stripped the program from the Farm Bill to be dealt with separately. NPR’s Scott Neuman has the details.

House Republicans have approved a farm bill sans food stamps, leaving a gaping hole in the middle of the measure for the first time in 40 years.

The 216-208 vote was largely on party lines, with no Democrats supporting it. Twelve Republicans also voted against it.

The decision to cleave food stamps — formerly called the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, from the rest of the farm bill gives Republicans a victory after GOP lawmakers in the House turned down the full measure last month.

According to The Associated Press, Republicans said the food stamp part of the legislation would be dealt with separately at a later date, and House Majority Leader Eric Cantor said after the vote that Republicans would “act with dispatch” to get that legislation to the floor.