Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program
Encyclopedia
The United States
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), historically and commonly known as the Food Stamp Program, is a federal-assistance program that provides assistance to low- and no-income people and families living in the U.S. Though the program is administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture
, benefits are distributed by the individual U.S. state
s.
In the 2010 fiscal year, $64.7 billion in food stamps were distributed, with an average monthly benefit per recipient in a household of $133.49. As of June 2011, the number of Americans receiving food stamps was 45,183,931, the first time in 38 months that the number of participants decreased. In Washington, D.C., and Mississippi, more than one-fifth of residents receive food stamps. Recipients must have at most near-poverty
incomes to qualify for benefits.
Today, all food-stamp benefits are distributed using cards but for most of its history the program had actually used paper denominational stamps or coupon
s worth US$
1 (brown colored), US$5 (blue colored), and US$10 (green colored). These stamps could be used to purchase any prepackaged edible foods regardless of nutritional value (for example soft drink
s and confectionery
could be purchased on food stamps). In the late 1990s, the food-stamp program was revamped and actual stamps were phased out in favor of a specialized debit-card system known as Electronic Benefit Transfer
(EBT) provided by private contractors. Many states merged the use of the EBT card for public-assistance welfare programs as well. The successful replacement over time of all paper food stamps by EBT cards enabled the U.S. Congress
to rename the Food Stamp Program to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, as of October 2008, and to update all references in federal law from "stamp" or "coupon" to "card" or "EBT". This was effectuated on June 18, 2008, by U.S. House
Resolution
6124, The Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008
, enacted as Public Law
over U.S. President George W. Bush
's veto.
Henry Wallace
and the program's first administrator, Milo Perkins. Of the program, Perkins said, "We got a picture of a gorge, with farm surpluses on one cliff and under-nourished city folks with outstretched hands on the other. We set out to find a practical way to build a bridge across that chasm." The program operated by permitting people on relief to buy orange stamps equal to their normal food expenditures; for every US$1 worth of orange stamps purchased, fifty-cents' worth of blue stamps were received. Orange stamps could be used to buy any food; blue stamps could be used only to buy food determined by the Department to be surplus. Over the course of nearly four years, the first FSP reached approximately 20 million people at one time or another in nearly half of the counties in the U.S. at a total cost of $262 million. At its peak, the program assisted 4 million people simultaneously. The first recipient was Mabel McFiggin of Rochester, New York; the first retailer to redeem the stamps was Joseph Mutolo; and the first retailer caught violating program rules was Nick Salzano in October 1939. The program ended when the conditions that brought the program into being (unmarketable food surpluses and widespread unemployment) no longer existed.
actively associated with attempts to enact a food stamp program during this period are George Aiken
, Robert M. La Follette, Jr.
, Hubert Humphrey
, Estes Kefauver
and Stuart Symington
. From 1954 on, U.S. Representative
Leonor Sullivan
strove unceasingly to pass food-stamp-program legislation. On September 21, 1959, P.L.
86-341 authorized the Secretary of Agriculture to operate a food-stamp system through January 31, 1962. The Eisenhower
Administration never used the authority. However, in fulfillment of a campaign promise made in West Virginia
, President John F. Kennedy
's first Executive Order called for expanded food distribution and, on February 2, 1961, he announced that food stamp pilot programs would be initiated. The pilot programs would retain the requirement that the food stamps be purchased, but eliminated the concept of special stamps for surplus foods. A Department spokesman indicated the emphasis would be on increasing the consumption of perishables.
Mr. and Mrs. Alderson Muncy of Paynesville, West Virginia
, were the first food stamp recipients on May 29, 1961. They purchased US$95 worth of food using food stamps for their 15-person household. In the first food stamp transaction, they bought a can of pork and beans
at Henderson's Supermarket. By January 1964, the pilot programs had expanded from eight areas to 43 (40 counties, Detroit
, Michigan
, St. Louis
, Missouri
, and Pittsburgh
, Pennsylvania
) in 22 States with 380,000 participants.
Of the program, U.S. Representative
Leonor K. Sullivan of Missouri
asserted, "...the Department of Agriculture seemed bent on outlining a possible food stamp plan of such scope and magnitude, involving some 25 million persons, as to make the whole idea seem ridiculous and tear food stamp plans to smithereens."
appropriated $75 million to 350,000 individuals in 40 counties and three cities. The measure drew overwhelming support from House
Democrats, 90 percent from urban areas, 96 percent from the suburbs, and 87 percent from rural areas. Republican lawmakers opposed the initial measure: only 12 percent of urban Republicans, 11 percent from the suburbs, and 5 percent from rural areas voted affirmatively. President Lyndon B. Johnson
hailed food stamps as "a realistic and responsible step toward the fuller and wiser use of an agricultural abundance."
Rooted in congressional logrolling
, the act was part of a larger appropriation that raised price supports for cotton and wheat. Rural lawmakers supported the program so that their urban colleagues would not dismantle farm subsidies. Food stamps, along with Medicaid
, Head Start, and the Job Corps
were foremost among the growing anti-poverty programs.
President Johnson called for a permanent food-stamp program on January 31, 1964. Agriculture Secretary Orville Freeman
submitted the legislation on April 17, 1964. The bill eventually passed by Congress
was H.R. 10222, introduced by Congresswoman Sullivan. One of the members on the House Committee on Agriculture who voted against the FSP in Committee was then Representative Bob Dole
. As a Senator, Dole became a staunch supporter of the program. The law was intended to strengthen the agricultural economy and provide improved levels of nutrition among low-income households; however, the practical purpose was to bring the pilot FSP under congressional control and to enact the regulations into law.
The major provisions were:
The Agriculture Department estimated that participation in a national FSP would eventually reach 4 million, at a cost of $360 million annually, far below the actual numbers.
P.L. 91-671 (January 11, 1971) established uniform national standards of eligibility and work requirements; required that allotments be equivalent to the cost of a nutritionally adequate diet; limited households' purchase requirements to 30 percent of their income; instituted an outreach requirement; authorized the Agriculture Department to pay 62.5 percent of specific administrative costs incurred by States; expanded the FSP to Guam
, Puerto Rico
, and the Virgin Islands of the United States; and provided $1.75 billion appropriations for Fiscal Year 1971.
Agriculture and Consumer Protection Act of 1973 (P.L. 93-86, August 10, 1973) required States to expand the program to every political jurisdiction before July 1, 1974; expanded the program to drug addicts and alcoholics in treatment and rehabilitation centers; established semi-annual allotment adjustments, SSI cash-out, and bi-monthly issuance; introduced statutory complexity in the income definition (by including in-kind payments and providing an accompanying exception); and required the Department to establish temporary eligibility standards for disasters.
P.L. 93-347 (July 12, 1974) authorized the Department to pay 50 percent of all states' costs for administering the program and established the requirement for efficient and effective administration by the States.
Program he (or she) may be automatically eligible for Food Stamps depending on his (or her) state’s laws. How much money in food stamps they receive also varies by state. Supplemental Security Income was created in 1974.
, Jacob Javits, Humphrey, and Dole and Congressmen Foley and Richmond. Amid all the themes, the one that became the rallying cry for FSP reform was "EPR"—eliminate the purchase requirement—because of the barrier to participation the purchase requirement represented. The bill that became the law (S. 275) did eliminate the purchase requirement. It also:
In addition to EPR, the Food Stamp Act of 1977 included several access provisions:
The integrity provisions of the new program included fraud disqualifications, enhanced Federal funding for States' anti-fraud activities, and financial incentives for low error rates.
The House Report for the 1977 legislation points out that the changes in the Food Stamp Program are needed without reference to upcoming welfare reform since "the path to welfare reform is, indeed, rocky...."
EPR was implemented January 1, 1979. Participation that month increased 1.5 million over the preceding month.
Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) began in Reading
, Pennsylvania
, in 1984.
. The Hunger Prevention Act of 1988 and the Mickey Leland Memorial Domestic Hunger Relief Act in 1990 foretold the improvements that would be coming. The 1988 and 1990 legislation accomplished the following:
Throughout this era, significant players were principally various committee chairmen: Congressmen Leland, Hall, Foley, Leon Panetta
, and de la Garza and Senator Patrick Leahy
.
Although the Food Stamp Program was reauthorized in the 1996 Farm Bill, major changes to the program were enacted through PRWORA. Among them were:
As a result of PRWORA and the booming economy of the late 1990s, participation in the food stamp program plummeted.
The Balanced Budget Act of 1997 (BBA) and the Agricultural Research, Education and Extension Act of 1998 (AREERA) made some changes to these provisions, most significantly:
The fiscal year 2001 agriculture appropriations bill included two significant changes to the Food Stamp Program. The legislation increased the excess shelter cap to $340 in fiscal year 2001 and then indexed the cap to changes in the Consumer Price Index for All Consumers each year beginning in fiscal year 2002. The legislation also allowed States to use the vehicle limit they use in a TANF assistance program, if it would be result in a lower attribution of resources for the household.
(based on a study of data gathered in Fiscal Year 2006), statistics for the food stamp program are as follows:
An annual report released by the Department of Agriculture about the composition of households participating in the Food Stamp Program is identified as the Characteristics Report.
Aside from nutritional assistance, SNAP Employment and Training (E&T) funds can also be used to provide recipients with education and training and career pathways
programs. SNAP outreach funds can also be integrated with screening tools for other public benefit programs.
, at a 2009 count, 3.53% of food stamps benefits were found to be overpaid, down from 7.01% in 1999. A 2003 analysis found that two-thirds of all improper payments were the fault of the caseworker, not the participant. There are also instances of fraud involving exchange of food stamp benefits for cash and/or for items not eligible for purchase with food stamps.
In Maine, extremely isolated incidents have occurred in the past where individuals once committed fraud by using their EBT to buy canned or bottled beverages (requiring a deposit to be paid at the point of purchase for each beverage container), dump the contents out so the empty beverage container could be returned for deposit redemption, and thereby, allowed these individuals to eventually purchase non-EBT authorized products with cash from the beverage container deposits. The Maine Office of Health and Community Services changed agency regulations pertaining to the EBT purchase of eligible items in beverage containers and now requires that Maine General Assistance recipients to pay the entire cost of their beverage container deposits with their own money.
in urban areas means that money that would have been spent on food is spent on housing expenses. Housing is generally considered affordable when it costs 30% or less of total household income; rising housing costs have made this ideal difficult to attain.
This is especially true in New York City
, where a recent survey shows that more than 28% of city renters are spending more than half their income on rent. Among lower income families the percentage is much higher. According to an estimate by the Community Service Society
, 65% of New York City families living below the federal poverty line are paying more than half of their income toward rent.
The current eligibility criteria attempt to address this, by including a deduction for "excess shelter costs." This applies only to households that spend more than half of their net income on rent. For the purpose of this calculation, a household's net income is obtained by subtracting certain deductions from their gross (before deductions) income. If the household's total expenditures on rent exceed 50% of that net income, then the net income is further reduced by the amount of rent that exceeds 50% of net income. For 2007, this deduction can be no more than $417, except in households that include an elderly or disabled person.
The adjusted net income, including the deduction for excess shelter costs, is used to determine whether a household is eligible for food stamps.
According to various studies shown by Rossi, because of income maintenance only about $0.17–$0.47 more is being spent on food for every food stamp dollar than was spent prior to individuals receiving food stamps.
According to the National Food Consumption Survey individuals in food stamp households do not differ significantly from those living in non-recipient households in the nutritional quality of the food eaten. As a result, Rossi argues that this objective is not being met. However, other studies found that that lack of nutritional improvement was a result of selection bias where only those most in need of nutritional supplement took advantage of the program and therefore the nutritional gains of these participants were not seen in the data.
of women and men by 1.6 BMI points (2009). The Economics and Human Biology
journal uses an example that an average American woman, 5 feet 4 inches tall, will be 5.8 pounds (2.6 kg) heavier if she is on SNAP than someone who is SNAP eligible, but not receiving food assistance. Another contributing factor to overweight and obesity issues in SNAP participants may be the lack of access participants have to healthy option because low-income areas are more often served with mini-marts that sell chips and soda as opposed to grocery stores that sell a more diverse variety of foods.
and stimulates the economy. In congressional testimony given in July 2008, Mark Zandi
, chief economist for Moody's
Economy.com, provided estimates of the one-year fiscal multiplier effect for several fiscal policy options, and found that a temporary increase in SNAP was the most effective, with an estimated multiplier of 1.73. In 2011, Secretary of Agriculture
Tom Vilsack
gave a slightly higher estimate: "Every dollar of SNAP benefits generates $1.84 in the economy in terms of economic activity." Vilsack's estimate was based on a 2002 George W. Bush
-era USDA study which found that "Ultimately, the additional $5 billion of FSP (Food Stamp Program) expenditures triggered an increase in total economic activity (production, sales, and value of shipments) of $9.2 billion and an increase in jobs of 82,100," or $1.84 stimulus for every dollar spent.
authorized $20 million to be spent on pilot projects to determine whether incentives provided to SNAP recipients at the point-of-sale would increase the purchase of fruits, vegetables, or other healthful foods. Fifteen states expressed interest in having the pilot program and, ultimately, five states submitted applications to be considered for HIP. Hampden County, Massachusetts
was selected as the Healthy Incentives Pilot (HIP) site. HIP is designed to take place from August 2010 to April 2013 with the actual operation phase of the pilot program scheduled to last 15 months, from November 2011 to January 2013.
HIP offers select SNAP recipients a 30% subsidy on produce, which is credited to the participant’s EBT card, for 15 months. 7,500 households will participate HIP and an equal number will not; the differences between the two groups will be analyzed to see the effects of the program. Produce, under the HIP, is defined as fresh, frozen, canned, or dried fruits and vegetables that do not have any added sugar, salt, fat, or oil.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), historically and commonly known as the Food Stamp Program, is a federal-assistance program that provides assistance to low- and no-income people and families living in the U.S. Though the program is administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture
United States Department of Agriculture
The United States Department of Agriculture is the United States federal executive department responsible for developing and executing U.S. federal government policy on farming, agriculture, and food...
, benefits are distributed by the individual U.S. state
U.S. state
A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...
s.
In the 2010 fiscal year, $64.7 billion in food stamps were distributed, with an average monthly benefit per recipient in a household of $133.49. As of June 2011, the number of Americans receiving food stamps was 45,183,931, the first time in 38 months that the number of participants decreased. In Washington, D.C., and Mississippi, more than one-fifth of residents receive food stamps. Recipients must have at most near-poverty
Poverty
Poverty is the lack of a certain amount of material possessions or money. Absolute poverty or destitution is inability to afford basic human needs, which commonly includes clean and fresh water, nutrition, health care, education, clothing and shelter. About 1.7 billion people are estimated to live...
incomes to qualify for benefits.
Today, all food-stamp benefits are distributed using cards but for most of its history the program had actually used paper denominational stamps or coupon
Coupon
In marketing, a coupon is a ticket or document that can be exchanged for a financial discount or rebate when purchasing a product. Customarily, coupons are issued by manufacturers of consumer packaged goods or by retailers, to be used in retail stores as a part of sales promotions...
s worth US$
United States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
1 (brown colored), US$5 (blue colored), and US$10 (green colored). These stamps could be used to purchase any prepackaged edible foods regardless of nutritional value (for example soft drink
Soft drink
A soft drink is a non-alcoholic beverage that typically contains water , a sweetener, and a flavoring agent...
s and confectionery
Confectionery
Confectionery is the set of food items that are rich in sugar, any one or type of which is called a confection. Modern usage may include substances rich in artificial sweeteners as well...
could be purchased on food stamps). In the late 1990s, the food-stamp program was revamped and actual stamps were phased out in favor of a specialized debit-card system known as Electronic Benefit Transfer
Electronic Benefit Transfer
Electronic Benefit Transfer is an electronic system in the United States that allows state governments to provide financial and material benefits via a plastic debit card. Common benefits provided via EBT are typically sorted into two general categories: Food and cash benefits...
(EBT) provided by private contractors. Many states merged the use of the EBT card for public-assistance welfare programs as well. The successful replacement over time of all paper food stamps by EBT cards enabled the U.S. Congress
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
to rename the Food Stamp Program to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, as of October 2008, and to update all references in federal law from "stamp" or "coupon" to "card" or "EBT". This was effectuated on June 18, 2008, by U.S. House
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...
Resolution
Resolution (law)
A resolution is a written motion adopted by a deliberative body. The substance of the resolution can be anything that can normally be proposed as a motion. For long or important motions, though, it is often better to have them written out so that discussion is easier or so that it can be...
6124, The Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008
Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008
The Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 was a $288 billion, five-year agricultural policy bill that was passed into law by the United States Congress on June 18, 2008. The bill was a continuation of the 2002 Farm Bill. It continues the United States' long history of agricultural subsidy as...
, enacted as Public Law
Act of Congress
An Act of Congress is a statute enacted by government with a legislature named "Congress," such as the United States Congress or the Congress of the Philippines....
over U.S. President George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
's veto.
First Food Stamp Program (FSP) (May 16, 1939—Spring 1943)
The idea for the first FSP has been credited to various people, most notably U.S. Secretary of AgricultureUnited States Secretary of Agriculture
The United States Secretary of Agriculture is the head of the United States Department of Agriculture. The current secretary is Tom Vilsack, who was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on 20 January 2009. The position carries similar responsibilities to those of agriculture ministers in other...
Henry Wallace
Henry A. Wallace
Henry Agard Wallace was the 33rd Vice President of the United States , the Secretary of Agriculture , and the Secretary of Commerce . In the 1948 presidential election, Wallace was the nominee of the Progressive Party.-Early life:Henry A...
and the program's first administrator, Milo Perkins. Of the program, Perkins said, "We got a picture of a gorge, with farm surpluses on one cliff and under-nourished city folks with outstretched hands on the other. We set out to find a practical way to build a bridge across that chasm." The program operated by permitting people on relief to buy orange stamps equal to their normal food expenditures; for every US$1 worth of orange stamps purchased, fifty-cents' worth of blue stamps were received. Orange stamps could be used to buy any food; blue stamps could be used only to buy food determined by the Department to be surplus. Over the course of nearly four years, the first FSP reached approximately 20 million people at one time or another in nearly half of the counties in the U.S. at a total cost of $262 million. At its peak, the program assisted 4 million people simultaneously. The first recipient was Mabel McFiggin of Rochester, New York; the first retailer to redeem the stamps was Joseph Mutolo; and the first retailer caught violating program rules was Nick Salzano in October 1939. The program ended when the conditions that brought the program into being (unmarketable food surpluses and widespread unemployment) no longer existed.
Pilot Food Stamp Program (1961—1964)
The eighteen years between the end of the first FSP and the inception of the next were filled with studies, reports and legislative proposals. Prominent U.S. SenatorsUnited States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
actively associated with attempts to enact a food stamp program during this period are George Aiken
George Aiken
George David Aiken was an American politician from Vermont. A Republican, he served as the 64th Governor of Vermont from 1937 to 1941 and as a U.S. Senator from 1941 to 1975...
, Robert M. La Follette, Jr.
Robert M. La Follette, Jr.
Robert Marion "Young Bob" La Follette, Jr. was an American senator from Wisconsin from 1925 to 1947, the son of Robert M. La Follette, Sr., the brother of Philip La Follette, and Fola La Follette, whose husband was the playwright George Middleton.- Early life:La Follette was born in Madison,...
, Hubert Humphrey
Hubert Humphrey
Hubert Horatio Humphrey, Jr. , served under President Lyndon B. Johnson as the 38th Vice President of the United States. Humphrey twice served as a United States Senator from Minnesota, and served as Democratic Majority Whip. He was a founder of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party and...
, Estes Kefauver
Estes Kefauver
Carey Estes Kefauver July 26, 1903 – August 10, 1963) was an American politician from Tennessee. A member of the Democratic Party, he served in the U.S...
and Stuart Symington
Stuart Symington
William Stuart Symington was a businessman and political figure from Missouri. He served as the first Secretary of the Air Force from 1947 to 1950 and was a Democratic United States Senator from Missouri from 1953 to 1976.-Education and business career:...
. From 1954 on, U.S. Representative
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...
Leonor Sullivan
Leonor Sullivan
Leonor Kretzer Sullivan was a member of the United States House of Representatives from Missouri. She was a Democrat and the first woman in Congress from Missouri....
strove unceasingly to pass food-stamp-program legislation. On September 21, 1959, P.L.
Public law
Public law is a theory of law governing the relationship between individuals and the state. Under this theory, constitutional law, administrative law and criminal law are sub-divisions of public law...
86-341 authorized the Secretary of Agriculture to operate a food-stamp system through January 31, 1962. The Eisenhower
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower was the 34th President of the United States, from 1953 until 1961. He was a five-star general in the United States Army...
Administration never used the authority. However, in fulfillment of a campaign promise made in West Virginia
West Virginia
West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian and Southeastern regions of the United States, bordered by Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Ohio to the northwest, Pennsylvania to the northeast and Maryland to the east...
, President John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....
's first Executive Order called for expanded food distribution and, on February 2, 1961, he announced that food stamp pilot programs would be initiated. The pilot programs would retain the requirement that the food stamps be purchased, but eliminated the concept of special stamps for surplus foods. A Department spokesman indicated the emphasis would be on increasing the consumption of perishables.
Mr. and Mrs. Alderson Muncy of Paynesville, West Virginia
Paynesville, West Virginia
Paynesville is an unincorporated community in McDowell County, West Virginia, United States. Paynesville is located along West Virginia Route 83 at the Virginia border. Paynesville has a post office with ZIP code 24873....
, were the first food stamp recipients on May 29, 1961. They purchased US$95 worth of food using food stamps for their 15-person household. In the first food stamp transaction, they bought a can of pork and beans
Pork and beans
Pork and beans is a culinary dish that uses pork and beans as its main ingredients. Numerous variations exist from Fabada Asturiana to Olla podrida to American canned pork and beans.-American canned pork and beans:...
at Henderson's Supermarket. By January 1964, the pilot programs had expanded from eight areas to 43 (40 counties, Detroit
Detroit, Michigan
Detroit is the major city among the primary cultural, financial, and transportation centers in the Metro Detroit area, a region of 5.2 million people. As the seat of Wayne County, the city of Detroit is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan and serves as a major port on the Detroit River...
, Michigan
Michigan
Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
, St. Louis
St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...
, Missouri
Missouri
Missouri is a US state located in the Midwestern United States, bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. With a 2010 population of 5,988,927, Missouri is the 18th most populous state in the nation and the fifth most populous in the Midwest. It...
, and Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh is the second-largest city in the US Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Allegheny County. Regionally, it anchors the largest urban area of Appalachia and the Ohio River Valley, and nationally, it is the 22nd-largest urban area in the United States...
, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
) in 22 States with 380,000 participants.
Of the program, U.S. Representative
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...
Leonor K. Sullivan of Missouri
Missouri
Missouri is a US state located in the Midwestern United States, bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. With a 2010 population of 5,988,927, Missouri is the 18th most populous state in the nation and the fifth most populous in the Midwest. It...
asserted, "...the Department of Agriculture seemed bent on outlining a possible food stamp plan of such scope and magnitude, involving some 25 million persons, as to make the whole idea seem ridiculous and tear food stamp plans to smithereens."
Food Stamp Act of 1964
The Food Stamp Act of 1964Food Stamp Act of 1964
The Food Stamp Act of 1964 provided permanent legislative authority to the Food Stamp Program, which had been administratively implemented on a pilot basis in 1962. It was later replaced and completely rewritten and revised by the food stamp provisions of the Food and Agricultural Act of 1977 The...
appropriated $75 million to 350,000 individuals in 40 counties and three cities. The measure drew overwhelming support from House
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...
Democrats, 90 percent from urban areas, 96 percent from the suburbs, and 87 percent from rural areas. Republican lawmakers opposed the initial measure: only 12 percent of urban Republicans, 11 percent from the suburbs, and 5 percent from rural areas voted affirmatively. President Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon Baines Johnson , often referred to as LBJ, was the 36th President of the United States after his service as the 37th Vice President of the United States...
hailed food stamps as "a realistic and responsible step toward the fuller and wiser use of an agricultural abundance."
Rooted in congressional logrolling
Logrolling
Logrolling is the trading of favors, or quid pro quo, such as vote trading by legislative members to obtain passage of actions of interest to each legislative member...
, the act was part of a larger appropriation that raised price supports for cotton and wheat. Rural lawmakers supported the program so that their urban colleagues would not dismantle farm subsidies. Food stamps, along with Medicaid
Medicaid
Medicaid is the United States health program for certain people and families with low incomes and resources. It is a means-tested program that is jointly funded by the state and federal governments, and is managed by the states. People served by Medicaid are U.S. citizens or legal permanent...
, Head Start, and the Job Corps
Job Corps
Job Corps is a program administered by the United States Department of Labor that offers free-of-charge education and vocational training to youth ages 16 to 24.-Mission and purpose:...
were foremost among the growing anti-poverty programs.
President Johnson called for a permanent food-stamp program on January 31, 1964. Agriculture Secretary Orville Freeman
Orville Freeman
Orville Lothrop Freeman was an American Democratic politician who served as the 29th Governor of Minnesota from January 5, 1955 to January 2, 1961, and as the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture from 1961 to 1969 under Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson...
submitted the legislation on April 17, 1964. The bill eventually passed by Congress
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
was H.R. 10222, introduced by Congresswoman Sullivan. One of the members on the House Committee on Agriculture who voted against the FSP in Committee was then Representative Bob Dole
Bob Dole
Robert Joseph "Bob" Dole is an American attorney and politician. Dole represented Kansas in the United States Senate from 1969 to 1996, was Gerald Ford's Vice Presidential running mate in the 1976 presidential election, and was Senate Majority Leader from 1985 to 1987 and in 1995 and 1996...
. As a Senator, Dole became a staunch supporter of the program. The law was intended to strengthen the agricultural economy and provide improved levels of nutrition among low-income households; however, the practical purpose was to bring the pilot FSP under congressional control and to enact the regulations into law.
The major provisions were:
- The State Plan of Operation requirement and development of eligibility standards by States;
- They required that the recipients should purchase their food stamps, while paying the average money spent on food then receiving an amount of food stamps representing an opportunity more nearly to obtain a low-cost nutritionally adequate diet;
- The eligibility for purchase with food stamps of all items intended for human consumption except alcoholic beverages and imported foods (the House version would have prohibited the purchase of soft drinks, luxury foods, and luxury frozen foods);
- Prohibitions against discrimination on bases of race, religious creed, national origin, or political beliefs;
- The division of responsibilities between States (certification and issuance) and the Federal Government (funding of benefits and authorization of retailers and wholesalers), with shared responsibility for funding costs of administration; and
- Appropriations for the first year limited to $75 million; for the second year, to $100 million; and, for the third year, to $200 million.
The Agriculture Department estimated that participation in a national FSP would eventually reach 4 million, at a cost of $360 million annually, far below the actual numbers.
Program expansion: participation milestones in the 1960s and early 1970s
In April 1965, participation topped half a million. (Actual participation was 561,261 people.) Participation topped 1 million in March 1966, 2 million in October 1967, 3 million in February 1969, 4 million in February 1970, 5 million one month later in March 1970, 6 million two months later in May 1970, 10 million in February 1971, and 15 million in October 1974. Rapid increases in participation during this period were primarily due to geographic expansion.Major legislative changes (early 1970s)
The early 1970s were a period of growth in participation, concern about the cost of providing food stamp benefits, and questions about administration, primarily timely certification. It was during this time that the issue was framed that would dominate food stamp legislation ever after: How to balance program access with program accountability? Three major pieces of legislation shaped this period leading up to massive reform to follow:P.L. 91-671 (January 11, 1971) established uniform national standards of eligibility and work requirements; required that allotments be equivalent to the cost of a nutritionally adequate diet; limited households' purchase requirements to 30 percent of their income; instituted an outreach requirement; authorized the Agriculture Department to pay 62.5 percent of specific administrative costs incurred by States; expanded the FSP to Guam
Guam
Guam is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States located in the western Pacific Ocean. It is one of five U.S. territories with an established civilian government. Guam is listed as one of 16 Non-Self-Governing Territories by the Special Committee on Decolonization of the United...
, Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.Puerto Rico comprises an...
, and the Virgin Islands of the United States; and provided $1.75 billion appropriations for Fiscal Year 1971.
Agriculture and Consumer Protection Act of 1973 (P.L. 93-86, August 10, 1973) required States to expand the program to every political jurisdiction before July 1, 1974; expanded the program to drug addicts and alcoholics in treatment and rehabilitation centers; established semi-annual allotment adjustments, SSI cash-out, and bi-monthly issuance; introduced statutory complexity in the income definition (by including in-kind payments and providing an accompanying exception); and required the Department to establish temporary eligibility standards for disasters.
P.L. 93-347 (July 12, 1974) authorized the Department to pay 50 percent of all states' costs for administering the program and established the requirement for efficient and effective administration by the States.
1974 nationwide program
In accordance with P.L. 93-86, the FSP began operating nationwide on July 1, 1974. (The program not fully implemented in Puerto Rico until November 1, 1974.) Participation for July 1974 was almost 14 million.Eligible access to Supplemental Security Income beneficiaries
Once a person is a beneficiary of the Supplemental Security IncomeSupplemental Security Income
Supplemental Security Income is a United States government program that provides stipends to low-income people who are either aged , blind, or disabled. Although administered by the Social Security Administration, SSI is funded from the U.S. Treasury general funds, not the Social Security trust fund...
Program he (or she) may be automatically eligible for Food Stamps depending on his (or her) state’s laws. How much money in food stamps they receive also varies by state. Supplemental Security Income was created in 1974.
Food Stamp Act of 1977
Both the outgoing Republican Administration and the new Democratic Administration offered Congress proposed legislation to reform the FSP in 1977. The Republican bill stressed targeting benefits to the neediest, simplifying administration, and tightening controls on the program; the Democratic bill focused on increasing access to those most in need and simplifying and streamlining a complicated and cumbersome process that delayed benefit delivery as well as reducing errors, and curbing abuse. The chief force for the Democratic Administration was Robert Greenstein, Administrator of FNS; in Congress, major players were Senators George McGovernGeorge McGovern
George Stanley McGovern is an historian, author, and former U.S. Representative, U.S. Senator, and the Democratic Party nominee in the 1972 presidential election....
, Jacob Javits, Humphrey, and Dole and Congressmen Foley and Richmond. Amid all the themes, the one that became the rallying cry for FSP reform was "EPR"—eliminate the purchase requirement—because of the barrier to participation the purchase requirement represented. The bill that became the law (S. 275) did eliminate the purchase requirement. It also:
- eliminated categorical eligibility;
- established statutory income eligibility guidelines at the poverty line;
- established 10 categories of excluded income;
- reduced the number of deductions used to calculate net income and established a standard deduction to take the place of eliminated deductions;
- raised the general resource limit to $1,750;
- established the fair market value (FMV) test for evaluating vehicles as resources;
- penalized households whose heads voluntarily quit jobs;
- restricted eligibility for students and aliens;
- eliminated the requirement that households must have cooking facilities;
- replaced store due bills with cash change up to 99 cents;
- established the principle that stores must sell a substantial amount of staple foods if they are to be authorized;
- established the ground rules for Indian Tribal Organization administration of the FSP on reservations; and
- introduced demonstration project authority.
In addition to EPR, the Food Stamp Act of 1977 included several access provisions:
- using mail, telephone, or home visits for certification;
- requirements for outreach, bilingual personnel and materials, and nutrition education materials;
- recipients' right to submit applications the first day they attempt to do so;
- 30-day processing standard and inception of the concept of expedited service;
- SSI joint processing and coordination with AFDC;
- notice, recertification, and retroactive benefit protections; and
- a requirement for States to develop a disaster plan.
The integrity provisions of the new program included fraud disqualifications, enhanced Federal funding for States' anti-fraud activities, and financial incentives for low error rates.
The House Report for the 1977 legislation points out that the changes in the Food Stamp Program are needed without reference to upcoming welfare reform since "the path to welfare reform is, indeed, rocky...."
EPR was implemented January 1, 1979. Participation that month increased 1.5 million over the preceding month.
Cutbacks of the early 1980s
The large and expensive FSP proved to be a favorite subject of close scrutiny from both the Executive Branch and Congress in the early 1980s. Major legislation in 1981 and 1982 enacted cutbacks including:- addition of a gross income eligibility test in addition to the net income test for most households;
- temporary freeze on adjustments of the shelter deduction cap and the standard deduction and constraints on future adjustments;
- annual adjustments in food stamp allotments rather than semi-annual;
- consideration of non-elderly parents who live with their children and non-elderly siblings who live together as one household;
- required periodic reporting and retrospective budgeting;
- prohibition against using Federal funds for outreach;
- replacing the FSP in Puerto Rico with a block grant for nutrition assistance;
- counting retirement accounts as resources;
- State option to require job search of applicants as well as participants; and
- increased disqualification periods for voluntary quitters.
Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) began in Reading
Reading, Pennsylvania
Reading is a city in southeastern Pennsylvania, USA, and seat of Berks County. Reading is the principal city of the Greater Reading Area and had a population of 88,082 as of the 2010 census, making it the fifth most populated city in the state after Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Allentown and Erie,...
, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
, in 1984.
Mid- to late 1980s
Recognition of the severe domestic hunger problem in the latter half of the 1980s led to incremental expansions of the FSP in 1985 and 1987, such as elimination of sales tax on food stamp purchases, reinstitution of categorical eligibility, increased resource limit for most households ($2,000), eligibility for the homeless, and expanded nutrition educationNutrition Education
Nutrition Education is any combination of educational strategies, accompanied by environmental supports, designed to facilitate voluntary adoption of food choices and other food- and nutrition-related behaviors conducive to health and well-being...
. The Hunger Prevention Act of 1988 and the Mickey Leland Memorial Domestic Hunger Relief Act in 1990 foretold the improvements that would be coming. The 1988 and 1990 legislation accomplished the following:
- increasing benefits by applying a multiplication factor to Thrifty Food Plan costs;
- making outreach an optional activity for States;
- excluding advance earned income tax credits as income;
- simplifying procedures for calculating medical deductions;
- instituting periodic adjustments of the minimum benefit;
- authorizing nutrition education grants;
- establishing severe penalties for violations by individuals or participating firms; and
- establishing EBT as an issuance alternative.
Throughout this era, significant players were principally various committee chairmen: Congressmen Leland, Hall, Foley, Leon Panetta
Leon Panetta
Leon Edward Panetta is the 23rd and current United States Secretary of Defense, serving in the administration of President Barack Obama since 2011. Prior to taking office, he served as Director of the Central Intelligence Agency...
, and de la Garza and Senator Patrick Leahy
Patrick Leahy
Patrick Joseph Leahy is the senior United States Senator from Vermont and member of the Democratic Party. He is the first and only elected Democratic United States Senator in Vermont's history. He is the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Leahy is the second most senior U.S. Senator,...
.
1993 Mickey Leland Childhood Hunger Relief Act
By 1993, major changes in food stamp benefits had arrived. The final legislation provided for $2.8 billion in benefit increases over Fiscal Years 1984-1988. Leon Panetta, in his new role as OMB Director, played a major role as did Senator Leahy. Substantive changes included:- eliminating the shelter deduction cap beginning January 1, 1997;
- providing a deduction for legally binding child support payments made to nonhousehold members;
- raising the cap on the dependent care deduction from $160 to $200 for children under 2 years old and $175 for all other dependents;
- improving employment and training (E&T) dependent care reimbursements;
- increasing the FMV test for vehicles to $4,550 on September 1, 1994 and $4,600 on October 1, 1995, then annually adjusting the value from $5,000 on October 1, 1996;
- mandating asset accumulation demonstration projects; and
- simplifying the household definition.
Later participation milestones
In December 1979, participation finally surpassed 20 million. In March 1994, participation hit a new high of 28 million.Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunities Reconciliation Act of 1996
The mid-1990s was a period of welfare reform. Many states had waivers of the rules for the cash welfare program, Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) before major welfare reform legislation was enacted in 1996. The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PRWORA) removed the entitlement of recipients to AFDC and replaced that with a new block grant to states called Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF).Although the Food Stamp Program was reauthorized in the 1996 Farm Bill, major changes to the program were enacted through PRWORA. Among them were:
- eliminating eligibility to food stamps of most legal immigrants who had been in the country less than five years;
- placing a time limit on food stamp receipt of three out of 36 months for Able-bodied Adults Without DependentsAble-bodied Adults Without DependentsThe term Able-bodied Adults Without Dependents refers to low income working adults in the United States who do not have dependents. The 1996 welfare law set categorical requirements for food stamp participation. Among these were restrictions on legal alien participation and participation by low...
(ABAWDs) who are not working at least 20 hours a week or participating in a work program; - reduction in maximum allotments by setting them at 100 percent of the change in the Thrifty Food Plan (TFP) from 103 percent of the change in the TFP;
- freezing the standard deduction, the vehicle limit, and the minimum benefit;
- setting the shelter cap at graduated specified levels up to $300 by fiscal year 2001, and permitting States to make use of the standard utility allowance mandatory;
- revising provisions for disqualification, including comparable disqualification with other means-tested programs; and
- requiring States to implement EBT before October 1, 2002.
As a result of PRWORA and the booming economy of the late 1990s, participation in the food stamp program plummeted.
The Balanced Budget Act of 1997 (BBA) and the Agricultural Research, Education and Extension Act of 1998 (AREERA) made some changes to these provisions, most significantly:
- additional Employment and Training (E&T) funds targeted toward providing work program opportunities for ABAWDs;
- allowing States to exempt up to 15 percent of the estimated number of ABAWDs who would otherwise be ineligible;
- restoring eligibility for certain elderly, disabled and child immigrants who resided in the United States when PRWORA was enacted; and
- cutting administrative funding for States to account for certain administrative costs that previously had been allocated to the AFDC program and now were required to be allocated to the Food Stamp Program.
The fiscal year 2001 agriculture appropriations bill included two significant changes to the Food Stamp Program. The legislation increased the excess shelter cap to $340 in fiscal year 2001 and then indexed the cap to changes in the Consumer Price Index for All Consumers each year beginning in fiscal year 2002. The legislation also allowed States to use the vehicle limit they use in a TANF assistance program, if it would be result in a lower attribution of resources for the household.
Participants
According to the United States Department of AgricultureUnited States Department of Agriculture
The United States Department of Agriculture is the United States federal executive department responsible for developing and executing U.S. federal government policy on farming, agriculture, and food...
(based on a study of data gathered in Fiscal Year 2006), statistics for the food stamp program are as follows:
- 49% of all participants are children (17 or younger), and 61% of them live in single-parent households.
- 52% of food stamp households include children.
- 9% of all participants are elderly (age 60 or over).
- 76% of all benefits go to households with children, 16% go to households with disabled persons, and 9% go to households with elderly persons.
- 33% of households with children were headed by a single parent, the overwhelming majority of whom were women.
- The average household size is 2.3 persons.
- The average gross monthly income per food stamp household is $673.
- 68% of participants are white; 33% are African-American, non-Hispanic; 1% are Hispanic; 1% are Asian, 1% are Native American, and 1% are of unknown race or ethnicity.
An annual report released by the Department of Agriculture about the composition of households participating in the Food Stamp Program is identified as the Characteristics Report.
Aside from nutritional assistance, SNAP Employment and Training (E&T) funds can also be used to provide recipients with education and training and career pathways
Career Pathways
Career Pathways is a workforce development strategy used in the U.S. to support workers’ transitions from education into and through the workforce. This strategy has been adopted at the federal, state and local levels in order to increase education, training and learning opportunities for...
programs. SNAP outreach funds can also be integrated with screening tools for other public benefit programs.
Fraud and abuse
According to the Government Accountability OfficeGovernment Accountability Office
The Government Accountability Office is the audit, evaluation, and investigative arm of the United States Congress. It is located in the legislative branch of the United States government.-History:...
, at a 2009 count, 3.53% of food stamps benefits were found to be overpaid, down from 7.01% in 1999. A 2003 analysis found that two-thirds of all improper payments were the fault of the caseworker, not the participant. There are also instances of fraud involving exchange of food stamp benefits for cash and/or for items not eligible for purchase with food stamps.
In Maine, extremely isolated incidents have occurred in the past where individuals once committed fraud by using their EBT to buy canned or bottled beverages (requiring a deposit to be paid at the point of purchase for each beverage container), dump the contents out so the empty beverage container could be returned for deposit redemption, and thereby, allowed these individuals to eventually purchase non-EBT authorized products with cash from the beverage container deposits. The Maine Office of Health and Community Services changed agency regulations pertaining to the EBT purchase of eligible items in beverage containers and now requires that Maine General Assistance recipients to pay the entire cost of their beverage container deposits with their own money.
Housing expenditure
The lack of affordable housingAffordable housing
Affordable housing is a term used to describe dwelling units whose total housing costs are deemed "affordable" to those that have a median income. Although the term is often applied to rental housing that is within the financial means of those in the lower income ranges of a geographical area, the...
in urban areas means that money that would have been spent on food is spent on housing expenses. Housing is generally considered affordable when it costs 30% or less of total household income; rising housing costs have made this ideal difficult to attain.
This is especially true in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, where a recent survey shows that more than 28% of city renters are spending more than half their income on rent. Among lower income families the percentage is much higher. According to an estimate by the Community Service Society
Community Service Society of New York
The Community Service Society of New York is an independent, nonprofit organization established in 1939. Originally formed as a charity providing direct assistance to the poor, its mission has evolved include research and advocacy as well as legal and informational support services for other...
, 65% of New York City families living below the federal poverty line are paying more than half of their income toward rent.
The current eligibility criteria attempt to address this, by including a deduction for "excess shelter costs." This applies only to households that spend more than half of their net income on rent. For the purpose of this calculation, a household's net income is obtained by subtracting certain deductions from their gross (before deductions) income. If the household's total expenditures on rent exceed 50% of that net income, then the net income is further reduced by the amount of rent that exceeds 50% of net income. For 2007, this deduction can be no more than $417, except in households that include an elderly or disabled person.
The adjusted net income, including the deduction for excess shelter costs, is used to determine whether a household is eligible for food stamps.
Income maintenance
The purpose of the Food Stamp Program as laid out in its implementation was to assist low-income households in obtaining adequate and nutritious diets. According to Peter H. Rossi, a prominent sociologist whose work involved evaluation of social programs, "the program rests on the assumption that households with restricted incomes may skimp on food purchases and live on diets that are inadequate in quantity and quality, or, alternatively skimp on other necessities to maintain an adequate diet". Food stamps, as many like Rossi, MacDonald and Eisinger contend, are used not only for increasing food but also as income maintenance. Income Maintenance is money that households are able to spend on other things because they no longer have to spend it on food. The FSP is meant solely to increase food purchases, not to act as a tool of income maintenance.According to various studies shown by Rossi, because of income maintenance only about $0.17–$0.47 more is being spent on food for every food stamp dollar than was spent prior to individuals receiving food stamps.
Nutritional improvement
Another benefit sometimes attributed to the Food Stamp Program is that it makes nutritious food more readily available.According to the National Food Consumption Survey individuals in food stamp households do not differ significantly from those living in non-recipient households in the nutritional quality of the food eaten. As a result, Rossi argues that this objective is not being met. However, other studies found that that lack of nutritional improvement was a result of selection bias where only those most in need of nutritional supplement took advantage of the program and therefore the nutritional gains of these participants were not seen in the data.
Nutritional standards
Unlike other federal programs that provide food subsidies, SNAP does not have nutritional standards. In October 2010, New York City proposed excluding sweetened beverages from the program, but federal officials rejected the pilot program.Overweight and obesity issues
A criticism of SNAP is that participants often have to compromise food choices for options higher in sugar, fat, and preservatives because healthy alternatives are not always affordable. SNAP participants consume less produce and healthy options and purchase at least 40% more sugar-sweetened beverages than any other consumer group. Maximilian Schmeiser, an economist with the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, noted that each additional year of SNAP participation increases the BMIBody mass index
The body mass index , or Quetelet index, is a heuristic proxy for human body fat based on an individual's weight and height. BMI does not actually measure the percentage of body fat. It was invented between 1830 and 1850 by the Belgian polymath Adolphe Quetelet during the course of developing...
of women and men by 1.6 BMI points (2009). The Economics and Human Biology
Economics and Human Biology
Economics and Human Biology is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal published by Elsevier since 2003. It is an interdisciplinary periodical covering research on economics in the context of human biology and health. The current editors-in-chief are J...
journal uses an example that an average American woman, 5 feet 4 inches tall, will be 5.8 pounds (2.6 kg) heavier if she is on SNAP than someone who is SNAP eligible, but not receiving food assistance. Another contributing factor to overweight and obesity issues in SNAP participants may be the lack of access participants have to healthy option because low-income areas are more often served with mini-marts that sell chips and soda as opposed to grocery stores that sell a more diverse variety of foods.
Macroeconomic effect
Like other forms of government spending, SNAP, by putting money into people's hands, increases aggregate demandAggregate demand
In macroeconomics, aggregate demand is the total demand for final goods and services in the economy at a given time and price level. It is the amount of goods and services in the economy that will be purchased at all possible price levels. This is the demand for the gross domestic product of a...
and stimulates the economy. In congressional testimony given in July 2008, Mark Zandi
Mark Zandi
Mark Zandi is an Iranian American economist and co-founder of Moody's Economy.com, a widely-cited source of economic analysis.. Moody's Economy.com is part of Moody's Analytics. Prior to founding Economy.com, Zandi was a regional economist at Chase Econometrics.He was born in Atlanta, Georgia of...
, chief economist for Moody's
Moody's
Moody's Corporation is the holding company for Moody's Analytics and Moody's Investors Service, a credit rating agency which performs international financial research and analysis on commercial and government entities. The company also ranks the credit-worthiness of borrowers using a standardized...
Economy.com, provided estimates of the one-year fiscal multiplier effect for several fiscal policy options, and found that a temporary increase in SNAP was the most effective, with an estimated multiplier of 1.73. In 2011, Secretary of Agriculture
United States Secretary of Agriculture
The United States Secretary of Agriculture is the head of the United States Department of Agriculture. The current secretary is Tom Vilsack, who was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on 20 January 2009. The position carries similar responsibilities to those of agriculture ministers in other...
Tom Vilsack
Tom Vilsack
Thomas James "Tom" Vilsack is an American politician, a member of the Democratic Party, and presently the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture. He served as the 40th Governor of the state of Iowa. He was first elected in 1998 and re-elected to a second four-year term in 2002...
gave a slightly higher estimate: "Every dollar of SNAP benefits generates $1.84 in the economy in terms of economic activity." Vilsack's estimate was based on a 2002 George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
-era USDA study which found that "Ultimately, the additional $5 billion of FSP (Food Stamp Program) expenditures triggered an increase in total economic activity (production, sales, and value of shipments) of $9.2 billion and an increase in jobs of 82,100," or $1.84 stimulus for every dollar spent.
Background
The 2008 Farm BillFood, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008
The Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 was a $288 billion, five-year agricultural policy bill that was passed into law by the United States Congress on June 18, 2008. The bill was a continuation of the 2002 Farm Bill. It continues the United States' long history of agricultural subsidy as...
authorized $20 million to be spent on pilot projects to determine whether incentives provided to SNAP recipients at the point-of-sale would increase the purchase of fruits, vegetables, or other healthful foods. Fifteen states expressed interest in having the pilot program and, ultimately, five states submitted applications to be considered for HIP. Hampden County, Massachusetts
Hampden County, Massachusetts
-Demographics:As of the census of 2004, there were 461,228 people, 175,288 households, and 115,690 families residing in the county. The population density was 738 people per square mile . There were 185,876 housing units at an average density of 301 per square mile...
was selected as the Healthy Incentives Pilot (HIP) site. HIP is designed to take place from August 2010 to April 2013 with the actual operation phase of the pilot program scheduled to last 15 months, from November 2011 to January 2013.
HIP offers select SNAP recipients a 30% subsidy on produce, which is credited to the participant’s EBT card, for 15 months. 7,500 households will participate HIP and an equal number will not; the differences between the two groups will be analyzed to see the effects of the program. Produce, under the HIP, is defined as fresh, frozen, canned, or dried fruits and vegetables that do not have any added sugar, salt, fat, or oil.
Impact on SNAP participants
Fruits and vegetables are higher in both nutritional value and price, making it difficult for SNAP recipients to purchase regularly, limiting their access to healthy options. The subsidy would give participants more purchasing power while not restricting “bad”, unhealthy foods. Such subsidies encourage sellers to offer more fresh produce at locations that previously did not carry them. This increases access for the SNAP recipients and may further encourage healthy eating habits.Administrative responsibility
The Massachusetts Department of Transitional Assistance (DTA) is the state agency responsible for SNAP. DTA has recruited retailers to take part in HIP and sell more produce, planned for the EBT system change with the state EBT vendor, and hired six new staff members dedicated to HIP. DTA has agreed to provide FNS with monthly reports, data collection and evaluation.See also
- Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008The Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 was a $288 billion, five-year agricultural policy bill that was passed into law by the United States Congress on June 18, 2008. The bill was a continuation of the 2002 Farm Bill. It continues the United States' long history of agricultural subsidy as...
(2007 Farm Bill) - Food stamp challengeFood stamp challengeA food stamp challenge is a trend in the United States popularized by religious groups, community activists and food pantries in which a family of means chooses to purchase food using only the monetary equivalent of what a family that size would receive in federal food stamps. In 2007, this...
- Lone Star CardLone Star CardThe Lone Star Card is an Electronic Benefit Transfer pin-based card. The card is used for Food Stamp and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families programs for the State of Texas, United States of America....
(TexasTexasTexas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
Electronic Benefit TransferElectronic Benefit TransferElectronic Benefit Transfer is an electronic system in the United States that allows state governments to provide financial and material benefits via a plastic debit card. Common benefits provided via EBT are typically sorted into two general categories: Food and cash benefits...
) - National School Lunch ActNational School Lunch ActThe Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act is a United States federal law signed by President Harry S. Truman in 1946. The act created the National School Lunch Program , a program to provide low-cost or free school lunch meals to qualified students through subsidies to schools...
- Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and ChildrenSpecial Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and ChildrenThe Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children is a Federal assistance program of the Food and Nutrition Service of the United States Department of Agriculture for healthcare and nutrition of low-income pregnant women, breastfeeding women, and infants and children...
(WIC) - Department of Agriculture v. MorenoDepartment of Agriculture v. MorenoDepartment of Agriculture v. Moreno, , was a case before the United States Supreme Court.-Facts:Appellees consisted of several groups of individuals who alleged that, although they satisfied the income eligibility requirements for federal food assistance, they were nevertheless excluded from the...
, 413 U.S. 528 (1973) - Lyng v. CastilloLyng v. CastilloLyng v. Castillo, 477 U.S. 635 , reversed a lower court's decision that the change in the statutory definition of a household violated the appellee's due process rights. The program rules for food stamps were changed in 1981 and 1982 which changed the definitions of households...
, 477 U.S. 635 (1986)
External links
- Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) at Food and Nutrition ServiceFood and Nutrition ServiceThe Food and Nutrition Service , an agency of the United States Department of Agriculture , was established on August 8, 1969. FNS is the federal agency responsible for administering the nation’s domestic nutrition assistance programs...
- History of the Food Stamp Program video from Center on Budget and Policy PrioritiesCenter on Budget and Policy PrioritiesThe Center on Budget and Policy Priorities is a non-profit think tank that describes itself as a "policy organization ... working at the federal and state levels on fiscal policy and public programs that affect low- and moderate-income families and individuals."The Center examines the short- and...