Senate Agriculture Chairman Pat Roberts has indicated he wants to use the farm bill as a way to target fraud in the food stamp program. Bloomberg makes the interpretation from a statement by Roberts addressing quality control problems within the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, which the Chairman said: “any problems will need to be given a hard look” in the $70 billion program.
Bloomberg reports that the move could endanger the bipartisan support he needs to get the farm bill through Congress. The Senate Agriculture Committee will hold a hearing Thursday focusing on misreporting of costs in the program. During the 2014 Farm Bill process, a national payment-error rate was reported at 3.2 percent. A USDA spokesperson says fraud “should absolutely be part of the discussion,” as “fraud and abuse are problems that threaten the integrity of the program.”
From the National Association of Farm Broadcasters.