House votes to cut $700 mln in food stamps

By Charles Abbott

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. House of Representatives
voted on Friday to cut $700 million from the food stamp program
as part of a broad bill to reduce federal spending by $50
billion, despite objections from antihunger groups.

Some 235,000 people would lose food stamp benefits under
the House bill, according to one analysis.

The House bill, which also trimmed other social programs
for the poor, was narrowly approved on a vote of 217-215 early
on Friday.

House and Senate negotiators now must write a final,
compromise version of legislation to pare federal spending over
five years. The Senate did not cut food stamps in its version
of a $35 billion budget-cutting bill.

“In nutrition, the Senate did the right thing,” said Ellen
Vollinger of the Food Research and Action Center. She said
Congress should not cut food stamps as part of its final
budget-cutting bill.

Food stamps, the major U.S. antihunger program, help poor
people buy food. Some 25.8 million Americans received food
stamps in a program run by the U.S. Agriculture Department.

In a statement, the White House said it supported the House
“efforts to narrow overly broad exemptions from the food stamp
program’s eligibility limits.” President (George W.) Bush
proposed restrictions in February that are similar to the
House-approved steps.

Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Saxby Chambliss said
earlier this month that he would oppose “substantial cuts” in
food stamps in the budget bill. By tradition, the Georgia
Republican would be a senior negotiator on the budget bill.

Under the House plan, roughly 165,000 people who now
automatically are enrolled in food stamps when they get
assistance from welfare programs would lose their food stamps.
The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities said the affected
people were mostly working families with children.

States would have the option to continue offering free
school lunches to families cut off of food stamps. The Center
on Budget said it was unlikely all states would do so.

The House proposal also would require 70,000 legal
immigrants in most cases to wait seven years to become eligible
for food stamps, rather than the current five years. That
brings the total number of people affected by the plan to
235,000.