Food stamps are a federal government program. They help poor families buy food.
About one person in six gets food stamps.
About 47 million people use food stamps.
Each person who uses food stamps gets about $133 each month to buy food.
All together, food stamps cost about $77 billion each year.
Another name for food stamps is "Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program", or "SNAP".
How do food stamps work now?
Right now, the federal government decides who is eligible for food stamps.
You can see the rules here.
The federal government gives money to each state based on the number of people who use food stamps.
If more people use food stamps in a state, the federal government gives the state more money.
If fewer people in a state use food stamps, the federal government gives the state less money.
What do Republicans want to change?
Republicans want to change food stamps into a "block grant" program.
This means that each state will get a specific amount of money.
The state will get the same amount of money, even if more people in the state become poor.
Each state would decide how to distribute food stamps.
Each state could have different rules for who can get food stamps.
Also, Republicans want to reduce the total amount of money for food stamps.
They want to cut about $12 billion each year from the program.
Why do Republicans think this is a good idea?
Republicans think that it's a good idea to let each state make its own rules.
"It's just a better way to give flexibility" -- Lindsey Graham, Republican Senator from South Carolina
The more you manage something far away, the more costly and less efficient it becomes." -- Graham
Why do Democrats think this is a bad idea?
Democrats say that, under the Republican plan, if more people in a state become poor, there will be less money to go around.
"It's giving them less resources, which you know will not be enough."
-- Margarette Purvis, president of Food Bank For New York City
"It is an efficient program. It's unfortunate that this kind of thinking would still be in play." -- Purvis
"When the economy is weak, the program expands to respond to need"
-- Stacy Dean, Center for Budget and Policy Priorities' vice president for food assistance policy.
"When the economy improves, the program shrinks."
-- Dean
"Chaing to block grants reduces the program’s economic responsiveness."
-- Dean