The "farm bill" is an omnibus bill which reauthorizes dozens of agriculture and agriculture-related statutes and their programs approximately every five years. Since 1973, the farm bill has included the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) (formerly, Food Stamp Program), and has come to include certain other nutrition programs administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food and Nutrition Service (USDA-FNS). Many programs reauthorized by the Food, Conservation and Energy Act of 2008 (or "2008 farm bill"; P.L. 110-246 ), expired at the end of FY2012 (September 30, 2012)—although many continued on the basis of appropriations action. The American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 ( P.L. 112-240 , enacted on January 2, 2013) included an extension of the 2008 farm bill through September 30, 2013. This report focuses on the Nutrition title (Title IV) of the 2012 farm bill proposals included in the 112 th Congress's Senate-passed bill (Agriculture Reform, Food, and Jobs Act of 2012; S. 3240 ) and House Committee-reported bill (Federal Agriculture Reform and Risk Management Act of 2012; H.R. 6083 ). These were five-year reauthorization proposals, and, while the 113 th Congress must "start from scratch," it is expected that these actions during 2012 will influence the farm bill formulation during the current Congress. This report's introduction includes a legislative history of the 112 th Congress's farm bill actions as well as a budget-oriented overview. Subsequent sections will take a closer look at the bills' proposed changes to SNAP. The report also discusses the two bills' changes to The Emergency Food Assistance Program, Commodity Supplemental Food Program, commodity foods in schools, and additional farm bill nutrition assistance programs and policies. For general background on the USDA-FNS programs, consult CRS Report R42353, Domestic Food Assistance: Summary of Programs , by [author name scrubbed] and [author name scrubbed]; as well as CRS Report R42505, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP): A Primer on Eligibility and Benefits , by [author name scrubbed]. While this report focuses on the five-year proposals in S. 3240 and H.R. 6083 from the 112 th Congress, the text box below summarizes the impact of the P.L. 112-240 extension on the domestic food assistance programs. On April 26, 2012, the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry marked up the Chair's mark of the 2012 farm bill, Agriculture Reform, Food, and Jobs Act of 2012, S. 3240 . One Title IV amendment to the Chair's mark was added, and the bill passed by a 16-5 voice vote. The Senate passed S. 3240 on June 21, 2012 by a vote of 65-34; four Title IV amendments were added during the Senate floor consideration. The Senate Committee reported the bill on August 28, 2012 in S.Rept. 112-203 . On July 9, 2012, House Committee on Agriculture Chairman Lucas together with Ranking Member Peterson introduced a Chair's mark of their 2012 farm bill, Federal Agriculture Reform and Risk Management Act of 2012, H.R. 6083 . On July 11, 2012, the House Committee on Agriculture considered 23 amendments to the Nutrition title and adopted 9 amendments. H.R. 6083 passed the committee on July 12, 2012 by a vote of 35-11. On September 13, 2012, the House Committee reported the bill ( H.Rept. 112-669 ), incorporating the amendments from the July markup. The 112 th Congress ended without the House-reported bill ever being brought to the floor of the House for a vote. From a budget standpoint, the largest difference between the Senate-passed and House Committee bills' Nutrition titles was their forecasted SNAP spending; this is due largely to the House Committee-reported bill's restrictions to SNAP " Categorical Eligibility ." Table 1 displays each of the bill's cost estimates by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) broken down by policy. These policies are discussed later in the report. CBO cost estimates compared farm bill nutrition spending under its current law baseline to the policies proposed in S. 3240 and H.R. 6083 . The most frequently cited numbers are CBO's estimates for the bills' entire Nutrition title as well as the bills' SNAP proposals—a subset of the Nutrition title. Please note: it is expected that the cost estimates displayed in Table 1 will change to reflect CBO's January 2013 baseline and possibly updated participation data. For S. 3240 , CBO estimated that if enacted, the bill's Nutrition title—which contains SNAP and non-SNAP proposals—would have resulted in a net reduction in spending of $4.0 billion over 10 years. The SNAP provisions alone are estimated to reduce spending by $4.5 billion over 10 years. (The Title's total CBO cost estimate results in fewer estimated savings than SNAP alone because the title estimate includes the effect of non-SNAP proposals that are estimated to spend rather than save.) For H.R. 6083 , CBO estimated that if enacted, the bill's Nutrition title—which contains SNAP and non-SNAP proposals—would have resulted in a net reduction in spending of approximately $16.1 billion. The SNAP provisions alone are estimated to reduce spending by $16.5 billion over 10 years. (As in S. 3240 , the Title's total CBO cost estimate results in fewer estimated savings than SNAP alone because the title estimate includes the effect of non-SNAP proposals that are estimated to spend rather than save.) Of the programs in Title IV, SNAP (as food stamps was renamed in the 2008 farm bill) accounts for the largest amount of federal funding and also serves the largest number of households. In fact, the vast majority of the current farm bill's spending is for SNAP—nearly 78% based on current CBO baseline projections. SNAP is an open-ended appropriated entitlement and program benefits are 100% federally funded. Further, SNAP participation ebbs and flows in relation to the nation's economy. Section 18(a) of the Food and Nutrition Act (codified at 7 U.S.C. 2027(a)) authorized appropriations for SNAP through September 30, 2012, the end of FY2012. P.L. 112-240 extended this authorization through September 30, 2013. Although SNAP is an open-ended mandatory entitlement program, it is also an appropriated entitlement in that not only must households and agencies be eligible for the funds, but the available funding is subject to the appropriations process. This appropriated entitlement status also means that SNAP and the programs funded through the SNAP account can be extended even if the farm bill is not reauthorized or the farm bill is not extended. Authority for appropriations for SNAP also affects other programs as appropriations to the SNAP account also fund certain other domestic food assistance programs that are authorized in the Food and Nutrition Act, including the mandatory entitlement commodity purchases for The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP). Both S. 3240 (Section 4012) and H.R. 6083 (Section 4020) would have extended the authorization of appropriations for SNAP until September 30, 2017, the end of FY2017. Both Senate-passed and House Committee-reported bills included changes to SNAP eligibility. The House-reported bill included more extensive changes expected to affect how states administer SNAP. Federal law provides the basic eligibility rules for SNAP, including limits for income and resources. There are two basic pathways to gain financial eligibility for SNAP: (1) having income and resources below specified levels set out in federal SNAP law; and (2) being "categorically," or automatically, eligible based on eligibility and receipt of benefits from other specified low-income assistance programs. Under traditional categorical eligibility, a SNAP applicant household is eligible for SNAP when every member receives Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) cash assistance, Supplemental Security Income (SSI), or state-funded general assistance cash benefits. Under current law, states must—at minimum—administer traditional categorical eligibility. As of May 2012, five states make this minimum choice. However, states also have the option to adopt so called "broad-based" categorical eligibility. Under this option, in addition to the programs listed under "Traditional," households that receive any TANF-funded benefit may be deemed eligible for SNAP benefits, if certain income conditions are met. Per USDA regulation, the TANF-funded benefit (cash or non-cash) must be for households at or below 200% of the federal poverty line. As of May 2012, 43 states had chosen to implement broad-based categorical eligibility in addition to traditional. Since few if any of the non-cash TANF-funded benefits (e.g., other forms of assistance like child care assistance or a brochure advertising a human services hotline) require a test of assets, this option often means that applicants' assets are not checked. For further explanation of SNAP eligibility, categorical eligibility, and the details of states' choices on this topic, please see CRS Report R42054, The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program: Categorical Eligibility , by [author name scrubbed] and [author name scrubbed]. S. 3240 would not have changed the current categorical eligibility options. H.R. 6083 (Section 4004), as reported, would have repealed "broad-based categorical eligibility," and limited categorical eligibility to SNAP applicants that receive TANF cash assistance, SSI, or state-funded general assistance cash benefits. As shown in Table 1 , CBO estimated that this change will result in approximately $11.5 billion in savings.