Boozman, Klobuchar still at loggerheads over SNAP delay

In opening statements at a markup on Farm Bill 2.0, Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman John Boozman, R-Ark., and Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., the ranking member, indicated they are still at loggerheads over the length of a delay in the provision in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act to require states to pay a portion of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits if their payment error rates are over 6%.

Boozman said the one-year delay until fiscal year 2029 is his “best and final” offer because a longer delay is not supported by Congress or the White House.

Klobuchar said the one-year delay is not sufficient because in the second year states with mid-level error rates would have to spend millions of dollars in state funds while states with the highest error rates would not have to use state money for the benefits.

The committee passed a group of amendments en bloc by voice vote. Klobuchar said she was supporting the en bloc group.

The committee rejected an amendment offered by Sen. Ben Ray Lujan, D-N.M., on specialty crops and one by Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vt., on audits of farms with multiple managers receiving farm subsidies. 

The votes were 12 against to 11 in favor, along party lines.