The food stamp program has continued to be a source of controversy. Earlier this year, Congress passed a farm bill that it hoped would save $8.6 billion over 10 years by tightening a "loophole" in the food stamp program, according to NPR. Yet it seems as if this isn't going to happen.
"Since the passage of the arm bill, states have found ways to cheat, once again, on signing up people for food stamps," said House Speaker John Boehner in an interview with Bloomberg. "And so I would hope that the House would act to try to stop this cheating and this fraud from continuing."
So how exactly are the states "cheating" the farm bill? At least six states, including New York, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Oregon, Montana and Rhode Island, are triggering extra federal nutrition spending by adding money to a home-heating subsidy, according to Business Week. This subsidy is tied to increased U.S. food stamp aid, which means that the states are receiving additional aid for food stamps despite the passage of the new farm bill.
So what's the problem? Federal spending on food stamps has more than doubled in the past five years. In fact, the program itself cost a staggering $79.9 billion in the 2013 fiscal year. That's about one-eighth of the entire amount that Americans are estimated to spend on groceries each year, according to Bloomberg.
While the government may be less than thrilled, though, states are certainly taking advantage. Last week, Pennsylvania's Republican governor, Tom Corbett, said that he would spend an addition $8 million in heating assistance in 2014 in order to prevent the $300 million cut in food stamp benefits to state residents, according to NPR.
Jim Weill, president of the Food Research and Action Center, agrees with Corbett's move. "Food stamps are not enough to get the vast majority of recipients through the month. The farm bill should have had a debate about how to improve benefits, not how to cut benefits."
What this means for future federal spending, though, remains to be seen.
