[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 208 (Thursday, January 3, 2019)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1745-E1746]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      FARM BILL CONFERENCE REPORT

                                  _____
                                 

                             HON. JIM COSTA

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, January 3, 2019

  Mr. COSTA. Mr. Speaker, as a member of the House Agriculture 
Committee and a member of the Farm Bill Conference Committee, I am 
pleased that the Conference report will strengthen the existing SNAP 
Employment and Training program by facilitating better connections 
between existing workforce development efforts and employers in local 
communities. Specifically, conferees rejected the one-size-fits-all 
approach to training programs that H.R. 2 had initially adopted, as 
these programs have consistently proven to be ineffective--too often 
failing to match low-income adults with the types of training and job 
opportunities they need. Instead, the Farm Bill conference report 
supports collaboration between workforce development programs and 
employers already tackling this job in their communities to better 
serve SNAP participants--a win for both participants and for local 
employers.
  I am also pleased that the Conference report includes several 
provisions that will improve the types of programs that SNAP employment 
and training can provide. The conference report reinforces the 
requirement that states properly assess clients and assign them to 
programs appropriate to their needs and skills. It also recognizes the 
important role case management services can play in helping to address 
barriers to work by requiring states to provide these types of 
services. Additionally, conferees prioritized the funding of innovative 
employment and training pilot programs, including pilot programs that 
serve specific groups with known barriers to work. These types of smart 
investments will have a

[[Page E1746]]

demonstrated impact on improving client outcomes, as opposed to 
spending billions on the creation of large new bureaucracies to track 
monthly work tests for millions of SNAP participants as the House 
passed bill would have done.
  I am also pleased that the conferees address a long-standing 
problem--when a SNAP participant is referred to a training program, and 
the program determines that the services they provide are not well 
matched to the needs of the participant. States have long been required 
to do meaningful assessments in order to properly assign clients. We 
believe the expanded investment in case management should improve this 
capacity. And, this bill emphasized that reassessment is important as 
well. But sometimes, when the state refers someone to a local training 
provider the provider--after doing their own assessment--determines 
that their services aren't appropriate for the individual. Under 
current law, that leaves the individual out of luck and even at risk of 
losing SNAP benefits and wastes the time and services of the training 
provider. The bill and report make clear that states must reassess and 
reassign the participant if appropriate. Participants will no longer 
lose benefits because states are doing a poor job of assigning them to 
programs that don't work for them.
  The primary role of employment and training programs should always be 
to transition people to sustained self-reliance rather than to find 
reasons to cut them off from benefits.

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