Senate appropriators will step up pressure on the Agriculture Department to back off from tightening regulations for convenience stores that accept food stamps, and there also could be a fight this week over proposed new restrictions for organic livestock operations.

 

The Senate Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee will meet Tuesday to advance a fiscal 2017 spending bill for USDA and the Food and Drug Administration. The panel chairman, Jerry Moran, said the legislation will include a provision targeting proposed new standards for retail stores that participate in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. “That's a rural issue to me,” the Kansas Republican said.

 

Convenience store owners and industry representatives say the rule would force tens of thousands of retailers to stop accepting SNAP. The House Appropriations Committee adopted an amendment to its version of the 2017 Agriculture spending bill that would block USDA from finalizing the rule.

 

The rule would increase the amount of single-ingredient foods like fruit, vegetables and meat that SNAP-eligible stores must offer.

 

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