The “Heat and Eat” Food Stamp Loophole and the Outdated Cost Projections for Farm Programs

In February, Congress passed a new farm bill that lacked meaningful and necessary reform. Making matters worse, Congress made critical mistakes that will have a major impact on both food stamps and farm programs. The most significant attempt at food stamp reform was to close the “heat and eat” loophole, which allows states to artificially boost the amount of food stamps that households receive. It is becoming clear, however, that the bill failed to achieve even this miniscule objective.
Two major new commodity programs were created in the farm bill. The projected cost of these programs is likely to be far greater than projected by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). By not using updated commodity price data, Congress failed to use the best projections to assess the financial impact of these costly new programs.
However, there are simple and straightforward ways to fix these mistakes that do not require major substantive policy changes.

http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2014/04/the-heat-and-eat-food-stamp-loophole-and-the-outdated-cost-projections-for-farm-programs?utm_source=heritagefoundation&utm_medium=homepage&utm_content=140409&utm_campaign=headline