SNAP Error Rate Alarms Lawmakers

With your Southeast Regional Ag News, I am Haylie Shipp. This is the Ag Information Network.

During yesterday’s program, we discussed a no-new-money farm bill and, one of the carrots that I dangled within the discussion, was the realization of a “SNAP error rate.”

The total SNAP FY 2022 error rate of 11-and-a-half percent prompted bipartisan howls from the four Ag panel leaders, who called it “unacceptable” and a threat to Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program’s integrity.

Iowa’s Joni Ernst…

“I do believe it’s important that we’re providing critical assistance to those citizens that are most vulnerable, but we also have an obligation to ensure that these federal funds are not abused."

USDA Food, Nutrition, and Consumer Services Deputy Undersecretary Stacy Dean blamed the pandemic and staffing shortages…

“The appropriations that we received both in 2022 and 2023 provided a significant increase in staffing for FNS resources that had fallen to a historic low while our program had gotten larger. We just needed more capacity.”

The Congressional Budget Office now projects nutrition costs will consume more than 80 percent of the next farm bill, or 1-point-2 trillion dollars.