The future of GOP's SNAP cuts

Politico

24-02-2025

Presented by Bayer
With help from Natalie Fertig
QUICK FIX
— The House is moving its plan to slash $230 billion in agriculture spending, which could divide the chamber's GOP caucus and complicate farm bill negotiations.
— USDA chief Brooke Rollins told state governors over the weekend that she's looking to unfreeze more federal ag spending soon.
— Confirmation processes for Donald Trump's USDA nominees could be delayed by missing paperwork.
IT'S MONDAY, FEB. 24. Welcome to Morning Agriculture. I'm your host Grace Yarrow. Send tips and your 'poison' of choice to [e-mail] and follow us at @Morning_Ag for more.
Driving the day
WHAT'S NEXT FOR RECONCILIATION: The House Rules Committee will meet later today to consider the chamber's budget resolution, showing GOP leaders' confidence that they can advance the blueprint on the floor this week.
President Donald Trump has already thrown his support behind the House's plan, which would require the House Ag Committee to find $230 billion in spending cuts. That would mean substantial reductions to spending related to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
House Ag Chair G.T. Thompson (R-Pa.) said in a recent interview with POLITICO that there would be no cuts to current SNAP benefits. But to hit the high level of spending cuts requested by House Republican leadership, other lawmakers expect that some current food aid benefits will get caught in the crosshairs.
THE FARM BILL ANGLE: Key House Republicans are also growing worried that planned cuts to SNAP spending under the GOP's reconciliation package could sink hopes for a new farm bill at a time when the party is in a strong position to shape the legislation.
The budget plan — and potential SNAP cuts — are rankling both swing-district lawmakers with constituents who rely on the aid and those representing farm-heavy districts where Trump's policies are threatening to worsen economic headwinds.
'It's always been a careful balance' between finding spending trims for reconciliation and the farm bill, said Rep. Frank Lucas (R-Okla.), a member of the House Ag Committee. 'Various of us have discussed with each other how we can't give everything in the first call. You've got to have some resources to work with [for the farm bill].'
The tensions around the reconciliation cuts are complicating matters for Republicans who were hoping that GOP control of Congress and the White House would make it easier to get a farm bill done after years of bipartisan conflict.
Many agriculture policies in the farm bill haven't been updated since 2018. Lawmakers have a narrow window to pass new legislation this year before midterm elections complicate negotiations.
In order to reach the $230 billion mark, Republicans are considering limiting future changes to the Thrifty Food Plan, the basis for calculating SNAP benefits. Doing that or slashing SNAP in any meaningful way could mean lawmakers won't have that money to pay for updating the so-called farm safety net and other expensive programs within the farm bill.
The House Agriculture Committee's GOP-led farm bill, which passed out of committee last May, relied on limiting Thrifty Food Plan updates as a way to finance other spending.
Another GOP representative, granted anonymity to air concerns about leadership's reconciliation plan, said that snipping nutrition spending now will make the 'heavy lift' of farm bill negotiations even more difficult.
A congressional aide added that lawmakers are 'most definitely impeding a farm bill being fully offset when you're having this conversation outside of it.'
Thompson tried pitching his colleagues on trimming just $50 billion from his committee for reconciliation, but hard-liner rebellion forces overrode him.
Senate Agriculture Chair John Boozman (R-Ark.) said it's 'really difficult' to reduce spending on nutrition programs for reconciliation while maintaining farm bill pay-fors. 'I think Chairman Thompson has voiced that,' Boozman said. 'I don't want to speak for him, but I think he's concerned.'
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Trump 2.0
UNFREEZING FUNDS: The Agriculture Department is starting to roll out some spending that was frozen during Trump's federal overhaul.
Rollins announced Thursday that USDA will release some of the funding that had been frozen by the Trump administration's review of IRA money, saying in a statement that she will honor contracts already made directly to farmers.
USDA is releasing an initial tranche of $20 million in contracts for the Environmental Quality Incentives Program, the Conservation Stewardship Program and the Agricultural Conservation Easement Program. That's a small amount of overall IRA awards issued to farmers, though Rollins said more is coming.
What's next: USDA will restart some wildfire grants, Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek told our Natalie Fertig over the weekend.
'I heard yesterday from Secretary [Brooke] Rollins that they are restarting some,' Kotek said when asked at the National Governors Association meeting on Saturday morning about frozen community wildfire defense grants. 'She's like, 'give us a week.''
Projects to reduce wildfire risk were put on hold around the country when the grants funded by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act or the Inflation Reduction Act were frozen earlier this month. Rollins released funding for a handful of agriculture-related grants on Thursday, and a USDA press release said 'additional announcements are forthcoming.'
A second person familiar with Rollins' remarks, who was granted anonymity to discuss a private conversation, confirmed that Rollins told governors she would soon be freeing up wildfire grants.
Some more context: Wildfire mitigation — or making forests healthier in order to reduce the risk of a wildfire from happening — has become a key tool in addressing the increasing risk of wildfires, and has bipartisan support. In the wake of the devastating Los Angeles fire last month, President Donald Trump called for Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom to do better forest management.
But just a month later, the federal government froze a number of wildfire funding schemes, including the community wildfire defense grant program — which was set to distribute $1 billion over five years to projects that do things like forest thinning and brush management.
ANOTHER CLASH: Rollins started a compliance review of the University of Maine — which receives $100 million in USDA dollars — citing 'blatant disregard' for Trump's executive order barring transgender students from competing in women's sports.
Trump threatened Maine's federal funding at the meeting of governors at the White House. He singled out Maine Gov. Janet Mills, a Democrat, and her state's policies after she refused to say whether she would comply with his order.
'USDA is committed to upholding the President's executive order, meaning any institution that chooses to disregard it can count on losing future funding,' Rollins said in a statement.
CONFIRMATION HURDLES: Now that Rollins has been confirmed and started her tenure at USDA, the Senate Ag Committee is turning to confirming other department nominees.
Next up will be Stephen Vaden, who was USDA general counsel during the first Trump administration, who's nominated to be deputy secretary. But Boozman told MA last Thursday that the committee is still waiting for his paperwork, including a required FBI background check. Rollins' confirmation process was also stalled due to delays in her ethics paperwork and background check.
Worth noting: MA has spotted Vaden on Capitol Hill in recent weeks taking meetings in the Senate. When he was confirmed to be the department's general counsel during the first Trump administration, almost all Senate Democrats voted against him.
BIRD FLU OUTBREAK
FIRST IN MA: Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) led a letter signed by more than 70 other lawmakers asking the Trump administration to undo its move to restrict federal agencies' communications.
'Your Administration's gag order pausing external health communications from federal health agencies, and limitation of cross-agency calls and collaboration to share information regarding this outbreak has significantly hampered response efforts to prevent the spread of the H5N1,' the lawmakers wrote in a letter to Trump.
Experts have also warned that the president's federal agency overhaul — including changes to communications — could exacerbate the worsening outbreak.
Some background: Lawmakers, who have sent a flurry of letters to Trump administration officials and introduced numerous bills seeking to change the federal bird flu response, are under immense pressure from consumers dealing with high egg prices and producers scared about the impact of the outbreak on their farms.
The Trump administration was expected to roll out a bird flu response strategy last week, but has not made any major policy announcements about how they will change or support the response.
Personnel issues: The Trump administration's firings — then re-hirings — of some employees working on the federal bird flu response is confusing industry groups and lawmakers who are desperately seeking answers, as egg prices continue to rise.
Multiple lawmakers and staff members told MA last week that USDA hasn't communicated exactly how many people it has laid off or if it plans to bring back all officials who work on bird flu.
Some lawmakers said they expect to see more rehires at the department.
'I know they'll scrutinize the different positions,' said Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), a member of the Senate Ag Committee. 'We do want people serving our farmers and ranchers. I expect that as needed, they will hire them back.'
Row Crops
— Rollins met with HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for lunch at the White House to strategize how USDA and HHS can 'Make America Healthy Again.'
— Coffee prices are at a 50-year high — but producers aren't celebrating. (The New York Times)
— Rollins seemingly directed USDA employees to follow Elon Musk's orders to email in what they accomplished last week, though some other agencies like the FBI have counseled workers against putting their activities in writing.
— EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin announced Friday that the agency would stick to a Biden-era plan to allow for year-round sales of E15 fuel. The policy is popular among farm state lawmakers and ethanol producers.
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