The farm bill that President Obama was referring to, and that the Senate had passed, is proposed as an extension to current legislation which is due to expire next month. That new plan would cost taxpayers nearly $1 trillion over the next ten years, with an estimated $770 billion of that money going to fund an already out-of-control food stamp program. Yes, the vast majority of all the money budgeted to support the “Federal Agricultural Reform and Management Act” is specifically earmarked for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), more commonly known as the food stamp program.
Food stamp program costs doubled between 2001 and 2006, and then doubled again between 2008 and 2012. Under the Obama administration, the number of food stamp recipients has also grown dramatically, up from 28.2 million in 2008 to more than 44.7 million in fiscal 2011. The proposed Senate extension will essentially lock in an $80 billion per year food stamp budget, but for appearances will, “cut spending” by a token $4.5 billion over the next decade.
Corn price volatility has more than doubled since RPS was enacted in 2007. Consumer food cost inflation, relative to all other goods, has risen to twice its 2005-2007 rate of increase as well due to sharp increases in corn, soybean and wheat
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