Obama Expected to Sign Farm Bill With Food Stamp Cuts

The Senate voted 68-32 Tuesday to approve a nearly $1-trillion farm bill that reduces federal spending for food stamps by $8-billion over 10 years, sending the legislation to President Obama, The Washington Post and The New York Times report.

Passed by the House Jan. 29 after nearly four years of negotiations between Democrats and Republicans, the bill aims to cover much of the food-stamps cut by closing a loophole that several states and the District of Columbia have used to increase payments to low-income households. The president is expected to sign it Friday.

Anti-poverty and food charities have decried the cuts, which advocates said would reduce benefits by $90 a month to 850,000 households. Nine Senate Democrats opposed the measure, primarily over to the nutrition-aid cuts, while 23 Republicans voted no because it did not more aggressively curtail food stamps and other federal spending.