During a confirmation hearing before the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry, President Donald Trump’s nominee to run the Department of Agriculture said she “can’t commit” to opposing any cuts to SNAP that Congress may propose.
Agriculture Secretary nominee Brooke Rollins said she has a “duty to the taxpayer,” and that while she values the services the Supplemental Food Assistance Program provides, she could not in that moment say she would oppose cuts to the program.
“Senator, probably not surprising to you, I can’t commit to that,” Rollins said in response to a question from Sen. Ben Ray Lujan (D-NM).
“It is of utmost importance to me and you and I that we solve this, that it isn’t just hunger, it’s nutrition as well for so many of our children that don’t have access to those programs,” Rollins continued. “But I also know that I have a duty to the taxpayer who is funding in significant numbers those programs.”
Rollins said that while she cannot make a commitment to opposing cuts, she can commit to “a lot of time, a lot of thought, a lot of conversation.”
“I sincerely believe senator that working together and working with other members of this committee, it’s important to Chairman Bozeman as well that we can find a solution that may or may not end up in cuts,” Rollins said.
SNAP benefits are tied into the farm bill, which is typically passed every five years and was most recently passed in 2018. Due to disagreements between Republicans and Democrats, largely over SNAP funding, the House and Senate have not been able to come to a consensus on an updated bill and have twice now extended the 2018 text.
Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle on Capitol Hill have expressed frustration over the fact they haven’t been able to pass a new version.
“I think it’s unfortunate that we haven’t gotten our work done yet, and I … we need to make it an absolute top priority to get that as soon as we can next year,” Rep. Dusty Johnson (R-SD), who sits on the House Committee on Agriculture, previously the Washington Examiner.
Many Republicans have opposed expanding food stamps under SNAP, which accounts for more than 80% of the bill.
House Agriculture Committee Chairman Glenn Thompson (R-PA) proposed the bill’s provisions would limit the ability of the Department of Agriculture to update its Thrifty Food Plan, which is the program on which SNAP benefit levels are based. This amounts to a $30 billion cut to SNAP over a decade, made in response to former President Joe Biden administration’s role in updating the Thrifty Food Plan, which resulted in a nearly 30% hike in benefit levels.
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Seventy-five percent of SNAP recipients fall at or below the poverty line, and one in five reports having no other source of income besides food stamps, and Democrats have repeatedly said they do not support a farm bill with such cuts to SNAP.
Rep. Jim McGovern (D-MA) told the Hill during the 2023 farm bill fight that if Republicans “screw around with SNAP, there will be no farm bill.”