Marshall continues push for SNAP cuts

Though the Senate Agriculture Committee chairman is from his state, freshman Roger Marshall, R-KS, said he’ll continue to challenge Sen. Pat Roberts, R-KS, over the issue of taking 9 million people off the rolls of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program recipients.

Marshall is happy to be a member of the conference committee to decide the final makeup of the 2018 farm bill.

“I’m ecstatic. It’s an honor,” said Marshall, who spoke to reporters in his hometown of Great Bend following a meeting of the local Rotary Club, of which he once served as president. “It’ll be great to have two Kansans at the table.”

When told that Roberts said, “All we need to tell them is 86-to-11” about the Senate farm bill vote in reference to the GOP-only vote in favor of the House version, Marshall said, “They should at least listen to the challenge. Nine million people on SNAP between the ages of 18 and 59 but don’t have a disability, but don’t have a young child at home they turned in zero income last year. So we ought to get them more training and that the senators ought to take a close look at it.”

Roberts and ranking member Debbie Stabenow, D-MI, have both been firm that a bill with big changes to SNAP will not net the 60 votes needed to advance the bill. A farm bill won’t happen without a compromise.

But House Republicans have stood firm, too, in giving Speaker Paul Ryan, R-WI, his victory to reduce SNAP payments. The House bill cuts conservation programs by $800 million and eliminates the Energy title—among other farm programs—to pay for the training program. The Senate bill increases funding for SNAP integrity while expanding work training pilot programs already in place.

Along with the work requirements, the House legislation strictly limits SNAP eligibility to people with incomes that are no more than 30 percent above the federal poverty level. Under current law, people in some states can qualify with incomes up to twice the poverty level.

Liberal organizations have been mobilizing to defeat House Agriculture Committee members, primarily in the Deep South, which have large populations of SNAP enrollees. Marshall said he was confident of their re-election.

“I think they’ll get re-elected because of this good policy,” Marshall said. “It’s the right policy, since it will teach them to fish instead of giving them fish.”

Besides, Marshall said, the bill does allow states to waive 15 percent of those impacted by loss of SNAP benefits due to lack of transportation to training.

“I don’t expect Washington, D.C., to solve every problem.”

More than the farm bill debate, Marshall said his No. 1 concern is tariffs and trade agreements.

“We’ve seen, on average, a 20 percent drop in commodity prices since this mess started. I’ve communicated it to the president and to Peter Navarro (White House director of trade and industrial policy) and to (National Economic Council Director) Larry Kudlow and to everyone who will listen to me. I think they’re starting to get it,” Marshall said.

“That’s the reason they’ve announced the $12 billion program to make farmers whole. It’s been quite a roller-coaster ride. People don’t realize how hard agriculture has worked over the last years to open new markets. It’s easier to keep a good customer than to get a new one. Going forward, we may have lost customers forever. The $12 billion is just scratching the surface.”

Marshall figures U.S. producers can wait out the tariffs imposed on them.

“China’s stock market is down 20 percent. They’re hemorrhaging more than we are. They need us more than we need them,” Marshall said.

The 52-week range of the Shanghai Composite Index has a high of 3587.03 to a low of 2691.02. It closed Aug. 14 at 2780.96.

Larry Dreiling can be reached at 785-628-1117 or [email protected].