Bipartisan lawmakers reach deal on farm bill that would cut food stamps by 1%

Leaders from the House and Senate Agriculture committees announced Monday they have reached a bipartisan agreement on a massive farm bill that would scale back a House plan to make major cuts to food stamps.

The measure keeps food stamp benefits for most Americans, and is expected to cut the benefits by about $800 million a year, or around 1 percent.

The House in September passed legislation cutting 5 percent from the $80 billion-a-year program. The Democratic-controlled Senate had passed a bill with $400 million in annual food stamp cuts.

“This bill proves that by working across party lines we can save taxpayer money while at the same time strengthening efforts helping to create jobs,” Democratic Sen. Debbie Stabenow, Chairwoman of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry, said in a statement.

The final bill released Monday would cost almost $100 billion a year over five years, with a cut of around $2.3 billion a year overall from current spending. Committee aides said they were still waiting for final numbers from the Congressional Budget Office to assess exactly how much the bill would cost.

Republican House leaders said they would support the deal, with House Speaker John Boehner calling it a “step in the right direction.”

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