TWIW Sneak Peek

8/6/2010, Vol. XXXI, No. 26

Senate Passes FMAP and Child Nutrition Bills, Cuts Future SNAP Benefits
Before leaving for its summer recess, the Senate on Aug. 5 passed legislation (S.Amdt. 4575 to H.R. 1586) that will provide money to states for teachers’ jobs and the Medicaid Federal Medical Assistance Percentage. The FMAP measure is among several American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funding extensions that Congress has been trying to pass for several months without success. The Senate was finally able to secure the 60 votes necessary to cut off debate and move to a vote on the bill on Aug. 4. The final vote the next day was 61 to 39; all Democrats voted in favor, including Sen. Ben Nelson (Neb.), who had earlier voted against several similar measures. Maine’ s two Republican senators, Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe, joined the majority. The measure will provide $16.1 billion to extend the increased FMAP that would have expired Dec. 31, and will phase down the increased FMAP to 3.2 percentage points in the second quarter of fiscal year 2011 and 1.2 percentage points in the third quarter. The bill is fully paid for, with a major portion of the offsets coming from future cuts in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits by sunsetting in April 2014 the boost in SNAP benefits made by ARRA legislation last year. An earlier amendment (S.Amdt. 4567) would have cut the SNAP benefits in 2015, but did not offset enough costs to gain the necessary Republican votes. The House must still pass the bill before it can be sent to President Obama, and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has scheduled the House to return briefly from recess on Aug. 9 and 10 to vote on the legislation.

The Senate passed another bill on Aug. 5, the child nutrition reauthorization bill (the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010, S. 3307), which would make further cuts in future SNAP benefits. The bill will provide $4.5 billion for child nutrition programs over the next 10 years and will increase meal reimbursements to schools for the first time since 1973. Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.) had been pushing for the Senate to pass the bill before the recess began, and the Senate did so late in the day. To offset costs, the bill makes additional SNAP cuts similar to the FMAP legislation, saving $2.2 billion by sunsetting the ARRA increases in November 2013. If enacted, the SNAP benefit cuts could result by some estimates in as much as a $50 per month decrease for a three-person family in 2014. The FMAP bill legislative language is available at http://frwebgate1.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/TEXTgate.cgi?WAISdocID=qzMNC4/31/1/0&WAISaction=retrieve under “S.A. 4575.” The child nutrition legislative language is available at http://frwebgate2.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/TEXTgate.cgi?WAISdocID=AfaypJ/17/1/0&WAISaction=retrieve under “S.A. 4589.”

Another major human service issue in Congress this summer, extension of the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Emergency Contingency Fund, was not included in any Senate legislation this week. The possibility remains that the Senate may take up the TANF ECF when it returns from the August recess in either the tax extenders bill or the small-business bill, both of which have been mentioned as possible legislative vehicles for the TANF extension.

Other Articles in This Issue:

• Senate Passes FMAP and Child Nutrition Bills, Cuts Future SNAP Benefits
• House Subcommittee Holds Hearing on Child Welfare Waiver Demonstration Projects
• Early Childhood Conference 2010
• HHS Updates Poverty Guidelines for Remainder of 2010
• FNS Requests Comments on Collection of SNAP Modernization Data

To access all the articles, please log in with your username and password. If you do not have one, please subscribe to TWIW.

If you are already a member and are unable to get to the issue, your subscription may have expired. For both these cases; please contact Parthenia Purnell at 202-682-0100 x276 or parthenia.purnell@aphsa.org

User Name  

Password