Recently, one of my colleagues wrote in this report that one of the GOP criticisms of the farm bill was that they allege that illegal immigrants were getting food stamps under SNAP. I know that is a common assertion and I was curious how much truth, of any, that there was to it. I happened to know an expert in social services who has a great deal of experience working with the immigrant population in Des Moines who would know if they are accessing SNAP. Attacking SNAP, calling it corrupt and abused, has been a common theme for Farm Bill critics for as long as they have debated them. As a general statement, most user-abuse has been purged from the system. Some use a broader definition, seeing SNAP as undesirable welfare that for which only elimination would suffice. SNAP opponents have tolerated it as the necessary compromise to get the votes to enact the larger farm bill with Ag titles. One gets the impression today that hard hard-right slice of House Republicans, that are punching above their weight, have reached a tipping point where these opponents would do away with a farm bill altogether if that is what it took…
Read More