FOOD STAMPS TAKE A LICKING

The Senate Agriculture Committee voted (11-7) to give the states more control over the food stamps program, and toslash its annual budget by more than two-thirds, from $27 billion to $8 billion, within five years.One in ten Americans receives food stamps. The Senate turned back demands by some Republican governors to convert the program to block grants. AHouse plan passed in Marchalso keeps the national food stamps program, but -- unlike the Senate bill -- would convert school lunches and the Women, Infants and Children supplemental feeding program into block grants.