Davis Supports Farm Bill With New Work Requirements For SNAP Recipients

Illinois Congressman Rodney Davis said a new farm bill to be voted on in the U.S. House on Friday would invest $10 billion over the next decade in workforce training for recipients of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) program, also known as Food Stamps.

The 13th District Republican said that the Department of Health and Human Services would pair up SNAP recipients with job training programs, to help them get back to work and out of poverty.

“They’d keep those SNAP benefits while they went to school and they’d come out of that school and they’d be able to get a job," said Davis. 

This proposed increase in workforce training funding comes as Republicans seek to require more SNAP recipients to either hold jobs or receive job training.

He said that the new requirements in the proposed H.R.2 - Agriculture and Nutrition Act of 2018 are appropriate because SNAP enrollment has risen, even as the economy has improved.

However, Democrats say the new work requirements are unreasonable, and could cause older recipients to go hungry.

Davis says he is confident that the Farm Bill will win House approval Friday, even as some conservative Republicans theaten to hold up the vote. 

They say they'll block action on the Farm Bill if they don't get a vote on a bill that puts new restrictions on legal immigration, beefs up border security and provides some relief for DACA recipients. 

Davis said he made his opinion clear to those colleagues, who he said want to use the Farm Bill as leverage to pass their own legislation. 

"I let them know my displeasure for that type of policy-making," said Davis.