The Associated Press: Senate defeats proposal to trim food stamp program

The Associated Press: Senate defeats proposal to trim food stamp program:

'via Blog this'A second Sessions amendment, to prevent states from getting bonuses for increasing registration of food stamp recipients, was also defeated.

The base bill does save $4.5 billion over 10 years by ending another practice by some 15 states of giving low-income people as little as $1 dollar 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.

Also on the agenda were several amendments having nothing to do with farm policy, including a measure to cut off public funds for political party conventions and another demanding a report on the effects of automatic cuts in defense and other federal spending to take place next January.

Left out was an amendment by Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., that would have codified an agreement between egg producers and the Humane Society of the United States to increase the size of hen cages over the next 18 years and end the practice of depriving hens of food and water to increase egg production. Humane Society president Wayne Pacelle said other sectors of animal agribusiness lobbied against the measure out of concern that their sectors would also have to compromise on animal welfare issues....

The legislation envisions spending $969 billion over the next decade, with savings of $23 billion over the current farm bill that expires at the end of September. The savings come from replacing four safety net programs, including direct payments to farmers, with one program that compensates farmers for modest revenue losses before crop insurance kicks in, reducing conservation programs from 23 to 13 and ending abuses in the food stamp program.

—The Senate accepted by voice vote an amendment by Sens. John Kerry, D-Mass., and John McCain, R-Ariz., that would eliminate a proposed Agriculture Department catfish inspection office. The senators argued that the office duplicates a function already carried out by the Food and Drug Administration and that its real goal was to protect U.S. catfish growers from imports. They said it would cost $30 million to set up the office and $14 million a year to operate.