On December 12, 2018, Congress crossed the finish line on a final bipartisan Farm Bill, with the House voting in support of the bill 369-47 on the heels of the Senate’s passage, 87-13. The final bill largely resembles the bipartisan SNAP provisions in the original Senate bill that the United Way network strongly championed throughout 2018.
The Farm Bill conference report preserves access to nutritious food for those who need it most by keeping the current SNAP eligibility requirements and work provisions and maintaining state flexibility. It also makes incremental changes that support work by strengthening the SNAP E&T program and its connection to employers and existing workforce infrastructure, and improving program integrity by modernizing verification systems and instituting checks to prevent duplicate receipt of benefits across states. ‘
We celebrate this victory as a bipartisan win that helps children, seniors, people with disabilities, veterans, and working Americans keep food on the table.