GOP Plans Overhaul of Food Stamp Program

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FILE - This Feb. 6, 2010 file photo shows a sign announcing the acceptance of electronic Benefit Transfer cards at a farmers market in Roseville, Calif. Through five years and counting of economic distress, the food aid program has swollen up like a summer tomato. It grew to $78 billion last year, more than double its size when the Great Recession began in late 2007. That makes a juicy target for conservative Republicans anxious to trim spending and pare back government. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli, File)
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FILE - This Feb. 6, 2010 file photo shows a sign announcing the acceptance of electronic Benefit Transfer cards at a farmers market in Roseville, Calif. Through five years and counting of economic distress, the food aid program has swollen up like a summer tomato. It grew to $78 billion last year, more than double its size when the Great Recession began in late 2007. That makes a juicy target for conservative Republicans anxious to trim spending and pare back government. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli, File)
FILE –  (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli, File)

House Republicans are laying the groundwork for a fresh effort to overhaul the nation’s food stamp program during Donald Trump’s presidency, with the possibility of new work and eligibility requirements for millions of Americans.

The GOP majority of the House Agriculture Committee is releasing its two-year review on Wednesday. It stops short of making specific policy recommendations, but it does hint at areas that congressional Republicans could focus on with their GOP monopoly under Trump: strengthening current work requirements and perhaps creating new ones, tightening some eligibility requirements or creating new incentives to encourage food stamp recipients to buy healthier foods.

The food stamp program now serves about 43.6 million people and cost $74 billion in 2015.

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