THE DAILY WHIP: THURSDAY, MAY 17, 2018

Daily Leader
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HOUSE MEETS AT:FIRST VOTE PREDICTED:LAST VOTE PREDICTED:
10:00 a.m.: Morning Hour
12:00 p.m.: Legislative Business

Fifteen “One Minutes”		1:15 – 2:15 p.m.5:45 – 6:45 p.m.
 
H.Res. 900 – Rule providing for consideration of H.R. 2 – Agriculture and Nutrition Act of 2018 (Rep. Conaway – Agriculture). The Rules Committee has recommended a structured Rule for additional amendments.  The Rule provides for consideration of 31 amendments, each debatable for 10 minutes, equally controlled by the proponent and opponent of the amendment.

The Rules Committee rejected a motion by Mr. Polis of Colorado to make in order and provide the appropriate waivers to amendment #63 offered by Reps. Comer of Kentucky, Blumenauer or Oregon, Bonamici of Oregon, Barr of Kentucky, Polis of Colorado, and Taylor of Virginia, which removes industrial hemp from the definition of marijuana under the Controlled Substances Act and places it under the jurisdiction of USDA as an agricultural commodity. Members are urged to VOTE NO.

Continue Consideration of H.R. 2– Agriculture and Nutrition Act of 2018 (Rep. Conaway – Agriculture).  This bill provides for the reform and continuation of Department of Agriculture programs for five years, through FY 2023. H.R. 2 was reported out of Committee without a single Democratic vote.  
The bill fails to improve the farm program safety net to address uncertainty and low prices caused by the Administration’s trade and Renewable Fuel Standard policies.  It eliminates mandatory funding for rural development and bio-energy programs that have helped support economic growth in rural America.  It undercuts bedrock environmental laws, such as protections for endangered species; eliminates the Conservation Stewardship Program - the Nation's biggest conservation program by acreage; and rolls back protections to allow more timber harvests on federal lands.  And it cuts an estimated $23 billion in benefits from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). 

SNAP is an essential program that offers nutrition assistance to forty-one million low-income individuals and families.  Nearly two-thirds of SNAP recipients are children, elderly, or disabled.  The $23 billion in cuts is achieved by:
  • Eliminating Broad-Based Categorical Eligibility (BBCE): BBCE is currently used by forty-two states in order to make eligibility thresholds for their social services programs uniform, which advantages both administrators and recipients who otherwise would waste time on duplicative paperwork and processing. BBCE also helps recipients who are returning to work or increasing their hours by helping ease a “benefit cliff” so that when wages rise, SNAP benefits fall more gradually.  This is a $5 billion cut.
  • Removing the automatic link between SNAP and Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) for non-elderly households:  This is a $5 billion cut.
  • Enforcing child support payments although the enforcement will cost more than the support received:  This would require beneficiaries to cooperate with child support enforcement agencies, but it would result in SNAP beneficiaries losing $3.8 billion in benefits while costing the federal government $7.2 billion. 
  • Replacing existing, effective work requirements with a new, untested, underfunded approach that experts say won’t work and will instead take away benefits from vulnerable families:  The bill greatly expands state Employment and Training programs but fails to provide sufficient funding for the programs to be effective, and imposes onerous new paperwork requirements that will increase costs and confusion.  The changes will result in low income families losing $9 billion in SNAP benefits.   
H.R. 2 attempts to hide the true impacts of these cuts by spending the savings to make the title look cost neutral, mostly through wasteful new spending on program administration, such as spending $2 on child support enforcement for every dollar saved and $7.7 billion on the new state make-work programs, for a total of nearly $15 billion in new administrative costs that do nothing to provide benefits to families.  However, the bill does reinvest a small portion of these savings in modestly increasing benefits in a variety of ways.  Enactment of this bill will do nothing to benefit the rural economy.  It is a missed opportunity to invest in rural broadband, water and wastewater and other infrastructure needs, and it does nothing to address the opioid crisis.   

Speaker Ryan is forcing consideration of this bill as part of his “Better Way” agenda, which seeks to enact welfare reform.  Speaker Ryan should abandon this dangerous, ideological crusade and work on a bipartisan bill that helps the rural economy, protects the environment, and provides an effective hand up for struggling American families.  Members are urged to VOTE NO. 

**Members are advised the House is expected to continue consideration of amendments, beginning at amendment #10 under the first Rule, offered by Rep. Herrera-Beutler of Washington.

TOMORROW’S OUTLOOK

The GOP Leadership has announced the following schedule for Friday, May 18: The House will meet at 9:00 a.m. for legislative business.  The House is expected to complete consideration of H.R. 2 – Agriculture and Nutrition Act of 2018 (Rep. Conaway – Agriculture).
 
THE DAILY QUOTE
“Several moderate House Republicans are firmly opposed to the farm bill or considering voting against it… House Agriculture Chairman K. Michael Conaway said he’s still working on securing the votes for the farm bill... Concerns about the bill are coming from both moderates and conservatives, Conaway said.”

    -     Roll Call, 5/16/2018