Republicans are eyeing changes to the the food stamp program that will surely be designed to trim the number of people eligible for the assistance. The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) helps nearly 44 million Americans get food they might not otherwise be able to afford at a cost of $74 billion annually, a price tag that’s doubled since 2008 due to the recession. The AP writes:
The GOP majority of the House Agriculture Committee is releasing its two-year review on Wednesday. It stops short of making specific policy recommendations, but it does hint at areas that congressional Republicans could focus on with their GOP monopoly under Trump: strengthening current work requirements and perhaps creating new ones, tightening some eligibility requirements or creating new incentives to encourage food stamp recipients to buy healthier foods.
"There's nothing off the table when it comes to looking at solutions around these areas where we think improvements need to be made," House Agriculture Chairman Mike Conaway, R-Texas, said in an interview with The Associated Press. [...]
The report, based on 16 hearings by the committee, recommends better enforcement of some SNAP work programs in certain states, and finds that 42 states use broad eligibility standards that some Republicans have criticized as too loose.
With a GOP monopoly on the federal government, "there's nothing off the table"—that's public enemy No. 1. In the interview, Conaway said that block granting the program wasn't a priority of his even if it has been a pet project of House Speaker Paul Ryan. In fact, changing the program doesn't appear to be an immediate priority for Republicans, but the report's release suggests they are laying the groundwork for a future fight.