Farm bill: State farm payments to fork farm
The Farm Bill passed the U.S. Senate on Wednesday with a simple majority, with support from Republicans and Democrats, and is expected to be signed into law by President Donald Trump.
But with Trump’s budget request set to include cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), which provides food to millions of Americans, the state farm payments are expected to take a hit.
In fact, the farm bill contains no increase in farm payments, according to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), with the farm subsidy amount to increase from $8.7 billion to $8,904 billion, according the Farm Bill website.
The bill also provides $300 million in funding for SNAP and food stamps, the program that provides food assistance to low-income people.
The Farm Bill also includes $3.3 billion in supplemental food aid to the nation’s farmers, but no food assistance for SNAP.
In addition, the Farm bill increases the crop insurance tax from 20% to 25% and requires the federal government to pay for $300 billion in crop insurance for 2017.
The bill also contains $1.3 trillion in tax relief, including $1 trillion in new income taxes and $1,200 for every adult to help lower taxes.
It also includes the largest tax relief in U.s. history for the wealthiest Americans, raising taxes on the richest 1% of Americans and increasing taxes on everyone else.