Iowa Republican Senator Chuck Grassley says that the Farm Bill is being divided, with the farm legislation separate from SNAP, or supplemental nutrition assistance program, formerly known as food stamps. He says that ideologically he believes they should be separate and that in order to pass the House of Representatives he believes they have to be two different bills. Once the two bills are passed by the House, they will go into conference with the single Senate bill and likely leave conference as one bill. Grassley says he hopes that it will then pass the House of Representatives.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, nearly half of those that use SNAP benefits are children under the age of 18. And in Fiscal Year 2011, about 1 in 7 Americans received SNAP.