Spending on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is likely to cause a major showdown in the farm bill debate, just as it did 10 years ago.  On Wednesday, 15 February, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released its ten-year cost estimates for the mandatory spending programs in the farm bill. In general, federal budget law requires the CBO to provide annual baseline estimates of mandatory spending programs projected for 10 years; estimates are made under the presumption that there are no changes to the law during that period, or in other words, that the 2018 farm bill continues for the next 10 years without changes. The bottom line is that the current baseline is about $1.5 trillion, the first $1 trillion-plus farm b...

TAGS – North America