House prepares vote to cut $39 billion from food stamp program

K.Vineys / AP

Chart shows federal food stamp participation since 1969

By Frank Thorp and Carrie Dann, NBC News

The House is expected to pass a Republican bill Thursday that would reduce spending for food stamps by $39 billion over 10 years, according to an estimate by the Congressional Budget Office.

The bill, which the CBO estimates will result in the loss of benefits for an estimated 3.8 million people in 2014, is expected to pass with only GOP votes.

Republican leaders dispute that the bill “cuts” nearly $40 billion from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) saying it instead eliminates loopholes that have allowed ineligible Americans to continue receiving the benefits.

Many rank-and-file Republicans say that while the SNAP reductions may be deep, they see the food stamp bill mostly as a starting point to blend with the Senate’s version of the legislation, which would result in much more moderate cuts.

But some in the GOP think the food stamp reductions go too deep.

"I just think on balance it's not a good bill," said Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y. who intends to vote against the measure. "Against the whole backdrop of a government shutdown, I just think it's too much."

And House Democrats have excoriated the Republican plan.

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"A very, very substantial number of families in the richest country on the face of the earth will be adversely affected by the bill, and I expect Democrats to oppose it overwhelmingly," House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer, D-Md., said. "It again is carrying out the agenda of the most hardline factions of the Republican Party."

The measure was previously stripped out of a larger farm bill that passed the House in July. GOP leaders were force to split the bill after conservatives pushed for deeper cuts as Democrats defected, saying the food stamp cuts would hurt poor families.

One of the provisions in the bill expected to pass the House today would toughen work requirements for food stamps, specifically for "able-bodied adults without dependents" between the ages of 18 and 50.

The House bill will require states to only give food stamp benefits to beneficiaries in this group if they obtain employment, participate in job training activities, or perform voluntary community service actives in exchange for those benefits.

The CBO estimates that provision will result in 1.7 million people losing benefits in 2014, and an average of 1 million people losing benefits per year over the next 10 years.

The budget agency also calculates that the number of food stamp recipients will be reduced dramatically over the next 10 years, from 48 million in 2014 to 34 million in 2023. But those changes would be due not only to the Republican bill, but an economy expected to rebound during that time.

This story was originally published on Thu Sep 19, 2013 1:42 PM EDT