The House passed a bill Thursday that would make around $4 billion in cuts annually to the almost $80 billion-a-year food stamp program and allow states to put in place broad new work requirements for recipients. A Senate-passed farm bill would make around a tenth of the amount of those cuts, or $400 million a year.
“This bill is designed to give people a hand when they need it most,” Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., said on the House floor just before lawmakers passed the bill. He said the legislation “will put people on the path to self-sufficiency and independence.”
The White House threatened a veto, and Senate Democrats angrily criticized the level of cuts.
“The Senate will never pass such hateful, punitive legislation,” said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.