Source: POLITICO'S MORNING AGRICULTURE, 5/2/18

The House farm bill could hit another speed bump as conservative groups are divided over whether SNAP-related provisions in H.R. 2 (115) further disincentivize adult recipients from marrying.

Some conservative anti-poverty experts contend that the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program already penalizes marriage because recipients face a potential drop in benefits from combining income. They argue the new work requirements proposed in the House farm bill could compound the problem by requiring both parents to work at least 20 hours per week after their children reach the age of six.

"You don't want a welfare program that's hostile to marriage," Robert Rector, a senior research fellow at the conservative Heritage Foundation, said during a briefing with reporters on Tuesday at which Heritage Action, the group's political arm, formally opposed the House measure. 

But the right-wing Foundation for Government Accountability, an increasingly prominent welfare reform group that is enthusiastically supporting the House bill, argues that no such marriage penalty exists in SNAP. "There's no marriage penalty right now," said Kristina Rasmussen, the group's vice president of federal affairs. "It doesn't create a marriage penalty."

Why this matters: The disagreement adds to the rancor surrounding the bill's other proposals to revamp SNAP and could complicate House Agriculture Chairman Mike Conaway's efforts to sell the sweeping legislation to the GOP conference's conservative flank.