The bill would allow states to drug-test applicants and would end government waivers that have allowed able-bodied adults without dependents to receive food stamps indefinitely.
The legislation also would eliminate so-called categorical eligibility, a method used by many states that allows people to qualify for food stamps automatically if they already receive other benefits.
The Senate bill would only find savings by ending a practice in some states of giving low-income people as little as $1 a year in home heating assistance, even when they don’t have heating bills, in order to make them eligible for increased food stamp benefits. The House has a similar provision.
Beyond food stamps, the two chambers will also have to resolve more minor differences in farm policies. The Senate farm bill and the two House bills combined cost roughly $100 billion annually over five years and expand some farm subsidies while eliminating others.
House Agriculture Committee Chairman Frank Lucas, R-Okla., pleaded with his colleagues on the House floor to vote for the food stamp bill to move the farm bill closer to passage.
“It should not be this hard to pass a bill to make sure that the consumers in this country and around the world have enough to eat,” Lucas said.
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