Side-by-Side Comparison of Nutrition Provisions of House and Senate Passed Farm Bills
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This document compares the nutrition provisions of the House-passed Farm Bill (H.R. 2646, The Farm Security Act), and the Senate-passed Farm Bill (H.R. 2646, previously S. 1731, The Agriculture Conservation, and Rural Enhancement Act). The estimated costs are based on Congressional Budget Office (CBO) final cost estimates for both bills as they were passed by their respective Agriculture Committees and on preliminary CBO estimates of Senate floor amendments. The nutrition provisions of the House bill costs $3.6 billion over ten years. The nutrition provisions of the Senate Farm Bill costs $8.9 billion over ten years.
These descriptions are not meant to be comprehensive, but to provide a useful guide to compare the bills.
| H.R. 2646: The Farm Security Act (House-passed Farm Bill) | H.R. 2646, earlier S. 1731: The Agriculture, Conservation, and Rural Enhancement Act (Senate-passed Farm Bill) | |
| Food Stamp Eligibility Provisions | ||
| Restoration of benefits for legal immigrants | No provision. | Section 452 and Section 170: Allows legal immigrants who can claim 16 quarters of work history to qualify for benefits (instead of the current 40 quarters). Restores eligibility to all legal immigrant children, regardless of date of entry to U.S. (In addition, sponsor deeming would not apply to children.) Effective 10/1/03. Restores full eligibility to refugees and asylees. (Current rules provide eligibility for the first seven years the refugee or asylee is in the U.S.) Restores eligibility to disabled legal immigrants who entered the U.S. after August 22, 1996 and receive a disability benefit such as SSI. Restores benefits for legal immigrants who have been in the U.S. for five years, except that legal immigrants who resided in the U.S. without legal status for a period of 12 months could not benefit from this restoration. Sponsor deeming would apply after the five-year period. CBO 10-year cost estimate:$2.485 billion. |
| Time-limit for unemployed childless adults | No provision. | Section 421: Changes the
time-limit for participation by unemployed childless adults from three months out of 36
months to six months out of 24 months, removes the second three-month period of
eligibility for individuals who work after losing eligibility, and allows certain job
search activities to qualify as a work program that meets the work requirement. CBO 10-year cost estimate: $775 million. |
| Food Stamp Benefit Improvements | ||
| Restructured Standard Deduction | Section 402: Increases the
standard deduction to recognize that larger families have greater expenses than smaller
ones. Specifically, sets the standard deduction at 9.7 percent of the fiscal year 2002
poverty level for each household size (with no adjustments for inflation), but not less
than the current standard deduction of $134. (Households with more than six members would
receive the standard deduction for a six person household.) CBO 10-year cost estimate: $1.420 billion. |
Section 171: Same as H.R. 2646,
except: 1) sets the standard deduction (by 2011) at 10 percent of each year's poverty level for a given household size (up to six persons). Phases up to 10 percent in 2011 from 8 percent in 2002. 2) ensures that the standard deduction keeps pace with inflation. CBO 10-year cost estimate: $2.210 billion. |
| Cap on the Excess Shelter Deduction | No provision. | Section 169: Eliminates the cap
on the excess shelter deduction that applies to households without an elderly or disabled
member beginning in fiscal year 2010. Raises the cap to $390 in fiscal year 2003 from its
projected level of $366 and indexes this amount for inflation each year (as is done under
current law) through 2009. CBO 10-year cost estimate: $515 million. |
| Food Stamp Income and Resource Simplifications | ||
| Definition of Income | Section 401: Allows a state
option to exclude certain uncommon types of income if the state also does not count them
in its TANF cash assistance or Medicaid program. Also allows states to exclude two obscure
types of income: certain unusual educational benefits and "complementary
assistance" from states. CBO 10-year cost estimate: $57 million. |
Section 412: Substantively the
same as H.R. 2646. CBO 10-year cost estimate: $57 million. |
| Earned income | No provision. | Section 416: Creates a new state
option to multiply average weekly paychecks by four and average biweekly paychecks by two
in the monthly income computation, thus eliminating the confusion between working
households that are paid every other week and those paid twice a month. In states taking
the option the earned income deduction for all households would be lowered to ensure cost
neutrality. CBO 10-year cost estimate: $0. |
| Countable Resources | No provision. | Section 418: Allows a state
option to exclude certain uncommon types of resources if the state also does not count
them in its TANF cash assistance or Medicaid program. CBO 10-year cost estimate: $180 million. |
| Resource limit for households with a disabled member | No provision. | Section 171: Raises the resource
limit for households with a disabled member to $3,000, which conforms it to the limit for
households with an elderly member. CBO 10-year cost estimate: $64 million. |
| Food Stamp Deduction Simplifications | ||
| Treatment of individuals paying child support | No provision. | Section 411: Simplifies
treatment of individuals paying child support: 1) Allows a state option to replace the current deduction for amounts paid in child support with an income exclusion in the same amount; 2) Permits states to use information from their child support enforcement (IV-D) agencies to determine the amount of child support paid, even if that information is several months old; and 3) Allows states to freeze the amount assumed to be paid in child support in between eligibility reviews. CBO 10-year cost estimate: less than $500,000. |
| Determination of shelter costs for shelter deduction | No provision. | Section 415: Allows states two
simplifications in the application of the Standard Utility Allowance (SUA) if the state
elects to require all households to have their utility costs determined with the SUA
instead of their actual bills. The simplifications would eliminate the current rules
requiring that: 1) the SUA must be prorated (or disallowed) if an eligible household is doubled up with another individual or family; and 2) the SUA may not be used by certain households in public housing whose utility costs are partially covered by the housing authority. CBO 10-year cost estimate: $522 million. Section 414: Further simplifies the determination of shelter costs: 1) Allows households to claim as shelter expenses any money they pay to their landlord on a regular basis (including such items as parking fees, pet surcharges, and other extras that currently must be separated out); and 2) Allows states to give homeless households a flat $143 deduction in lieu of the shelter deduction, rather than requiring states wishing to use this option to document that homeless households typically have incidental shelter costs in that amount. CBO 10-year cost estimate: less than $500,000. |
| Determination of amount of deductions | No provision. | Section 417: Gives states the
option to freeze most deductions between scheduled reviews of a household's eligibility.
Exceptions include adjusting the earned income deduction for reported changes in earnings
and recalculating the shelter deduction when a household reports that it moved. CBO 10-year cost estimate: Unable to estimate, but expect costs to be small. |
| Simplifications to Food Stamp Eligibility Determination Procedures | ||
| Transitional Food Stamps | Section 403: Extends from three
to six months the time families that leave TANF can continue to receive food stamps
without additional paperwork requirements. During this period the household's food stamp
benefit is the same as it received prior to its TANF case closure. Households must reapply
to have their benefits adjusted. Also makes it easier for states to administer by allowing
recertification to be postponed until the end of the transitional period. CBO 10-year cost estimate: $1.485 billion. |
Section 429: Substantively the
same as H.R. 2646 except the household's benefits during the transition period would be
adjusted for the loss of TANF income. Also, a household's benefits must be adjusted for
any changes in its circumstances that the household elects to report to the state agency
that would increase benefits. CBO 10-year cost estimate: $1.655 billion. |
| Semi-annual reporting | No provision. | Section 420: Gives states the
option to adopt semi-annual reporting systems for almost their entire caseload, rather
than for only households with earnings, as is currently allowed by regulation. Under
semi-annual reporting food stamp benefits can be frozen for six months at a time, with
households required to report only if their income exceeds the program's gross income
limit (130 percent of the poverty line). CBO 10-year cost estimate: $312 million. |
| Periodic redetermination of eligibility | No provision. | Section 427: Conforms the food
stamp procedures for redetermining recipient households' continuing eligibility to those
applied in Medicaid, SCHIP, SSI, and other programs. Replaces fixed certification periods
with a more flexible redetermination process where households are considered eligible
until the state determines they are ineligible or until a household fails to cooperate in
a review of eligibility. CBO 10-year cost estimate: $45 million. |
| Procedures for residents of certain group facilities | No provision. | Section 424: Gives states
the option to provide a standardized monthly benefit to residents of group homes and
substance abuse centers, rather than going through the individualized benefit calculation
for each resident. The standard benefit would be based on the typical issuance for
residents of such facilities. Section 425: Provides authority for group living arrangements to access residents' benefits directly using a point-of-sale (POS) device installed at the facility. CBO 10-year cost estimate: less than $500,000. |
| Food Stamp Quality Control | ||
| Fiscal Sanctions | Section 404: Reforms quality
control so that only states with serious, persistent problems would be sanctioned by: 1) increasing the threshold for automatic sanctions to the national average error rate plus one percentage point, 2) imposing sanctions only if there is a 95 percent statistical probability that the state is above the threshold for sanctions, and 3) imposing sanctions only on states whose error rates have been above the target for three consecutive years. Also makes a technical adjustment to the formula for computing sanctions which prevents sanctions from becoming more severe as the national average declines. Effective for error rates based on fiscal year 2000 and later years. CBO 10-year cost estimate: $0. |
Section 431: Same as H.R. 2646
with two additional changes: 1) requires USDA to adjust states' error rates to eliminate the impact of high or increasing numbers of low-income working households or immigrant households. The adjustments are similar to adjustments that USDA made when calculating sanctions based on fiscal year 1998 through 2000 error rates. For 2003 and beyond USDA is authorized to make additional adjustments. 2) requires USDA to investigate the state's administration of the program in the first or second year in certain instances when a state's error rate is above the threshold. If USDA found serious negligence it could impose a sanction of up to five percent of the state's administrative funding. Otherwise USDA would work with the state to correct the problem. Effective for error rates based on fiscal year 2001 and later years. CBO 10-year cost estimate: $0. |
| Incentive payments and enhanced funding | Section 404: Provides annual
incentive payments (of $1 million each, or $10 million total) for the five states with the
highest performance and the five states with the greatest improvement on a combined
measure of: 1) timely application processing, and Incentive payments apply to state performance beginning in fiscal year 2002 and sunset after fiscal year 2007. CBO 10-year cost estimate: $60 million. |
Section 431 and 433: Replaces
the current system of enhanced funding with $30 million each year for new performance
bonuses to states. Bonuses would be provided to states with the highest or most improved
performance on five measures, including a measure of participation among low-income
working families and four additional measures to be established by USDA in consultation
with NGA, APHSA, and NCSL. One of the measures would relate to the provision of timely and
appropriate services to applicants and recipients. The new bonuses would apply to state
performance beginning in fiscal year 2002. CBO
10-year cost estimate: |
| Date for announcement of QC error rates | No provision. | Section 432: Extends from
mid-April to June 30 USDA's deadline for resolving disputes over states' QC error rates
and announcing state and national error rates. CBO 10-year cost estimate: $0. |
| Food Stamp Employment and Training | ||
| Employment and Training | Section 406: Extends current
policies and funding for food stamp employment and training (FSE&T) through 2011. CBO 10-year cost estimate: $0. |
Section 434: Expands state
flexibility in spending on the FSE&T program by repealing: 1) the 80 percent set-aside to serve individuals subject to the three-month
time limit, Reduces the amount of unmatched federal funding available. Sets some E&T funds aside for states that pledge to offer a work slot to every person who would otherwise be terminated under the three-month time limit. Section 169: Eliminates the current $25 per month cap on reimbursement for work expenses. Effective on enactment. CBO 10-year cost estimate: -$73 million. |
| Other Food Stamp Provisions | ||
| Issuance of food stamps to disaster victims | No provision. | Section 419: Gives USDA
discretion to select the most practicable method of issuing emergency food stamps to
disaster victims. CBO 10-year cost estimate: $0. |
| Access to EBT benefits | No provision. | Section 422: Prohibits states
from closing recipients' EBT accounts unless the account has been inactive for at least 6
months. When a state does close an account it would be required to send the household a
notice informing it how to reinstate those benefits. CBO 10-year cost estimate: $4 million. |
| EBT cost neutrality | No provision. | Section 423: Eliminates the
current requirement that EBT systems not cost the federal government more than the prior
paper issuance systems did. CBO 10-year cost estimate: $9 million. |
| Applications on the internet | No provision. | Section 426: Requires states that
have a website for the state agency that administers food stamps to make the application
available on the website in each language in which the state makes a printed application
available. CBO 10-year cost estimate: less than $500,000. |
| Clearinghouse for successful nutrition education efforts | No provision. | Section 428: Requires the
Secretary of Agriculture to solicit from states descriptions of successful nutrition
education programs and make them available on the USDA website. CBO 10-year cost estimate: less than $500,000. |
| Delivery of adverse action notice to retailers | No provision. | Section 430: Allows USDA
flexibility on the postal method used to advise retailers of adverse action. CBO 10-year cost estimate: less than $500,000. |
| Coordination of program information activities | No provision. | Section 436: Allows states to
use TANF or TANF maintenance of effort funds to pay for state administrative costs related
to providing information about the food stamp program. (Currently allowed for other
programs such as Medicaid, SCHIP, child care, etc.) CBO 10-year cost estimate: less than $500,000. |
| Expanded grant authority | No provision. | Section 437: Clarifies that USDA
may provide grants to private entities to conduct research relating to the food stamp
program. CBO 10-year cost estimate: $0. |
| Other provisions to improve access to benefits | Section 405: Provides $9.5
million each year to help states develop and implement simplified application or
eligibility determination systems. CBO 10-year cost estimate: $84 million. |
Section 438: Grants
USDA authority to make grants to states and others to improve access and outreach to
eligible households. Grants are intended to emphasize coordinating access with other
programs, outstationing caseworkers, improving remote access and cooperation between
states and non-profits. CBO 10-year cost estimate: $3 million. |
| Nutrition assistance in Puerto Rico and American Samoa | Section 406: Extends funding for
nutrition assistance in Puerto Rico and American Samoa. Each year Puerto Rico would
receive its previous year's block grant adjusted for food price inflation. American Samoa
would receive 5.3 million each year. CBO 10-year cost estimate: $47 million. |
Section 439: 1) Consolidates the funding structure for nutrition assistance in Puerto Rico and American Samoa beginning in fiscal year 2003. Funding levels would be essentially unchanged, but both programs would be adjusted for food price inflation in future years. 2) Allows Puerto Rico to use up to $6 million of its 2002 block grant to help it pay for upgrading, modernizing, and simplifying the systems it uses for providing benefits. CBO 10-year cost estimate: $55 million. |
| Community Food Projects | Section 406: Provides $7.5
million each year for Community Food Projects beginning in fiscal year 2002. CBO 10-year cost estimate: $65 million. |
Section 440: Continues funding
for Community Food Projects at $2.5 million each year. CBO 10-year cost estimate: $10 million. |
| Innovative programs for addressing common community problems | No provision. | Section 443: Provides $200,000
for each of fiscal years 2002 and 2003 for a contract with a nongovernmental organization
to develop and recommend innovative programs for addressing common community problems. CBO 10-year cost estimate: less than $500,000. |
| Report on use of EBT systems | No provision. | Section 444: Requires USDA to
report to Congress on difficulties in using EBT systems for food stamp issuance, including
the extent and types of fraud, and efforts underway on the part of USDA, states,
retailers, and EBT contractors to address the problems. CBO 10-year cost estimate: less than $500,000. |
| Vitamin and mineral supplements | No provision. | Section 445: Allows food stamps
to be used to purchase nutritional supplements that contain vitamins or minerals.
Authorizes a study on the effect of the change. CBO 10-year cost estimate: $3 million. |
| Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP) | Section 406: Increases the
mandatory funding available for TEFAP commodity purchases under the Food Stamp Act from
$100 million to $140 million each year. Of this amount, $10 million each year would be
used to pay for state costs related to processing, storing, transporting, and distributing
commodities. CBO 10-year cost estimate: $398 million. |
Section 441: Like H.R. 2646,
amends the Food Stamp Act to provide $10 million each year for state administrative costs.
The Senate bill also provides $40 million a year for five years (for a total of $200
million) for additional TEFAP commodity purchases under the commodity title. CBO 10-year cost estimate: Section 441: $98 million. Section 166: $200 million set-aside. |
| Use of Approved Food Safety Technology | No provision. | Section 442: Prohibits USDA from
forbidding the use of any food safety technology that HHS has approved when acquiring
commodities under several USDA programs. Effective on enactment. CBO 10-year cost estimate: $0 million. |
| Reauthorization | Section 406: Extends the authorization of the Food Stamp and related programs under the Food Stamp Act through 2011. | Section 435: Extends the authorization of the Food Stamp and related programs under the Food Stamp Act through 2006. |
| Other Non-Food Stamp Act Provisions | ||
| Reauthorization of Commodity Programs | Sections 441, 442, 443: Extends
the authorizations of appropriations for various discretionary commodity programs,
including the Commodity Supplemental Food Program and Emergency Food Assistance through
2011. CBO 10-year cost estimate: $0. |
Section 451: Same as H.R. 2646
except: 1) extends authorizations of appropriations through 2006; 2) restructures authorization for administrative funding for the Commodity Supplemental Food Program. CBO 10-year cost estimate: $0. |
| Commodities for the School Lunch Program | No provision. | Section 453: Extends for two
years a provision of law that does not require that bonus commodities acquired for
agricultural program purposes and donated to schools be counted toward the requirement
that at least 12 percent of all school lunch assistance be in the form of commodities. CBO 10-year cost estimate: $100 million. |
| Exclusion of certain military housing allowances | No provision. | Section 454 and 455: Excludes
certain housing allowances paid for private military housing from income in determining
eligibility for free and reduced-price meals under the School Lunch Program and WIC. The
exclusion for the School Lunch Program is for fiscal years 2002 and 2003. CBO 10-year cost estimate: less than $500,000. |
| Report on Conversion of WIC to an Individual Entitlement | No provision. | Section 456: Requires the
Secretary of Agriculture to submit a report by December 31, 2002 that analyzes to
conversion of WIC from a discretionary program into an individual entitlement program.
Funds for the study would come from funds made available for administering WIC. CBO 10-year cost estimate: $0 million. |
| Commodity Donations | No provision. | Section 457: Provides that
commodities acquired under the Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) or Section 32 that are
not required to be used to carry out CCC or other USDA purposes may be used in domestic
feeding programs. CBO 10-year cost estimate: $0 million. |
| Purchases of Locally Produced Foods | Section 458: Requires the
Secretary of Agriculture to undertake several measures to encourage institutions
participating in the school breakfast and lunch programs to purchase locally produced
foods. Authorizes appropriations of $400,000 a year for fiscal years 2002 through 2006. CBO 10-year cost estimate: $0 million. |
|
| Senior Farmers' Market Nutrition Program | Section 924: Makes available,
from Commodity Credit Corporation funds, $15 million a year for fiscal years 2002 through
2011 for a senior farmers' market nutrition program. CBO 10-year cost estimate: $145 million outside nutrition title. |
Section 459: Makes available $15
million a year for fiscal years 2002 through 2006 for a senior farmers' market nutrition
program. CBO 10-year cost estimate: $75 million. |
| WIC Farmers' Market | No provision. | Section 460: Provides $15 million
for WIC Farmers' Market in 2002. CBO 10-year cost estimate: $15 million. |
| Fruit and Vegetable Pilot Program | No provision. | Section 461: Authorizes a pilot
program to make free fruits and vegetables available in 25 schools in each of 4 states and
on one Indian reservation. CBO 10-year cost estimate: $5 million. |
| Congressional Hunger Fellows Program | Section 461: Authorizes $18
million for a Congressional Hunger Fellowship Program. CBO 10-year cost estimate: $0. |
Section 462: Substantively the
same as H.R. 2646. CBO 10-year cost estimate: $0. |
| Nutrition Information and Awareness Pilot Program | No provision. | Section 463: Authorizes $25
million in appropriations for a pilot program in 15 states to increase fruit and vegetable
consumption and convey related health promotion messages. CBO 10-year cost estimate: $0. |
| General effective date | Section 462: Provisions are effective October 1, 2002, unless a provision specifies otherwise. | Section 464: Unless a provision specifies otherwise, the amendments are effective Sept. 1, 2002, except that a state may elect to not implement until October 1, 2002. |
| Nutrition 10-year Cost* | $3.632 billion | $8.889 billion |
| * The total cost
includes interactions among provisions. For the House bill CBO estimates interaction costs
of 16 million over the ten year period. For the Senate bill CBO estimates interaction
costs of $93 million over ten years. In addition, Section 166 of the bill provides for a
set-aside of commodity purchases from the Commodity Credit Corporation totaling $450
million over ten years to be distributed under the School Lunch Program ($250 million) and
the Emergency Food Assistance Program ($200 million). Prepared by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. |
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