Legislators Sound Alarm Over Soaring Food Assistance Budget, Program Abuse During Farm Bill Hearing

Food assistance in the United States is rapidly approaching the trillion-dollar threshold, and some legislators are trying to pump the brakes.
During a Feb. 16 hearing discussing the 2023 Farm Bill, four U.S. Senators voiced concerns while sharing the findings of a new Congressional Budget Office (CBO) report.
The cost analysis for nutritional subsidies like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and Thrifty Food will increase an additional $93 billion dollars over the next 10 years.
That’s in addition to the $250 billion dollars the Thrifty Food program tallied in spending since 2018.
Volunteers at Laguna Niguel Presbyterian work with San Clemente based Family Assistance Ministries in handing out food donations to a line of cars in Laguna Niguel, Calif., on Dec. 23, 2021. (John Fredricks/The Epoch Times)
Sen. John Boozman (R-Ark.) pointed out that Thrifty Food has always been “cost neutral” prior to the pandemic and that SNAP already spends more than $100 billion per year….}