A Criticism Regarding Snap And The Dependency Concern Essay

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) administers food assistance programs that help provide food for low to no income families. It is their goal to increase food security and reduce hunger by increasing access to food, a healthful diet, and nutrition education for low-income Americans (Caswell, 2013, para. 1). Some of the current nutrition assistance programs include “the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC)”(Caswell, 2013, para. 1). SNAP will be the primary nutrition assistance program of the paper at hand. No matter how morally good it is to try to help reduce hunger and increase food security within the United States, there are still many questions regarding issues with SNAP. This paper will be discussing why there is such a strong support for the program, how it helps the United States as a whole, problems with the program, and why some people are against SNAP.

SNAP is the foundation of nutrition assistance programs. This program provides over 47 million individuals in nearly 23 million low-income households. The eligibility is not restricted to certain groups of individuals, and because of this, SNAP serves a vast amount of families with children, elderly people, and individuals with disabilities. Others eligible for SNAP include families with adults who work in low-wage jobs, unemployed workers, and those with a fixed income. The SNAP Program assists about 72 percent of people who live in households with children. Nearly 25 percent of households with seniors and individuals with disabilities, are also assisted (Rosenbaum, 2013).

As the US national debt nears $20 trillion, government programs are being looked to be cut, one of those being the SNAP program. SNAP is a federal program which offers nutrition assistance to low income families, by use of food-stamps, while also providing economic benefits to communities (“Supplemental”). SNAP is the largest program in domestic hunger safety (“Supplemental”), the Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) works with nutrition educators, faith based organizations, and neighborhood organizations to help those eligible for the SNAP program make informed decisions about applying (“Supplemental”). The FNS also works with the retail community and State partners to improve the program’s integrity and administration (“Supplemental”). The SNAP

My mother received SNAP benefits for three months while she was unemployed in 2013, but only received $17 a month for a family of three. The most one can receive in SNAP benefits for a family of three is $497. Now that she has a stable job and can afford groceries without the help of government aid, there is no way she ever spends $497 on food. The people who receive the entire amount allotted for their family size should not receive that much. This is more than enough money for a family of three to eat very well every single day, while there are some people in the lower middle class that cannot afford to have three meals a day. My father, for example, went through a time where he made too much money to receive any type of food stamps from the government, but he could not afford to have three meals a day. When he applied for SNAP benefits, he was denied due to the fact that he made around $1,300 per month, which is not very much because he had to pay for rent, a car payment, car insurance, and the utility bills. It was difficult for him to find enough food to make dinner for two people, if I was there over the weekend. The maximum one can make in monthly gross income for a household of one person is $1,245 to be eligible for SNAP benefits (Saddler, dhs.state.il.us). In Figure 1, there is a chart stating the amount of money a household is expected to receive in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits.

For instance, there are behavioral or social reasons for nonparticipation. Some individuals who are eligible may not be aware of their eligibility. In 2009, it was estimated half of the households that were eligible did not participate because they either believed they were ineligible or were unsure if they were eligible. This lack of knowledge has encouraged efforts for SNAP outreach in some areas of the country, with partnering organization working with the state and local SNAP offices Additionally, when looking at explanations for nonparticipation, one might think about those individuals who choose not to participate despite being aware of their eligibility. Some households or individuals will never register for SNAP. These “non-compliers” could make this decisions either for personal reasons, a desire for independence, or issues with the administration of food stamps. Research has highlighted that SNAP participation is negatively impacted by long waiting periods at the local offices and other burdensome administrative and implementation issues for the states and participants (Bartlett, Burstein, & Hamilton, 2004; Currie & Grogger, 2001; U.S. General Accounting Office, 2001; Kabbani 2003; Ratcliffe, McKernan & Feingold, 2007; Zedlewski & Radar,

People are selling their Foods Stamps through various methods like taking people to the store and buying food. Individuals are making packaged deals to outsmart the system. For example, Food Stamps are generally more than actual money because it is government funded. So therefore, non-assisted people are getting excessive food benefits, while the abuser is receiving cash.

The initial program for nutritional support from the government was established in 1964; the program was altered in 1977, and remains the largest federal nutrition program for low-income households (USDA). Census reports from the Department of Agriculture reveal that we more than 47 million low income families rely on the SNAP benefits monthly within the Unites States. However, more than 50% of the recipients are children and elderly residences; about 8% actually receive cash welfare. Approximately 30% of SNAP recipients have earnings, or reside in a household with earnings. Nonetheless, government spending at its highest; money allocated for programs that have little or no monetary return, such as the SNAP program are deemed useless, wasteful, and detrimental to our ever growing capitalist economy. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse

Traditional students who are childless, reside on campus, and are enrolled in a meal plan are essentially either ineligible or find it very difficult to attain SNAP benefits. While traditional students may not have the financial expenses that a non-traditional student might have, they are deprived of assistance from the only federal program that benefits childless adults. When doing this study, the factors previously noted, led to the belief that a student’s classification may be a determining factor on how prone they are to be food insecure, with traditional being more food insecure than

The supplemental nutrition assistance program –SNAP helps families in domestic hunger safety. Most might refer to them as Food stamps. SNAP is helpful for people who need assistance facing poverty. The Hamilton Project says, “This makes it the country’s most critical tool in battling poverty. The program kept 4.9 million out of poverty in 2012.” Many may argue, why are people still being unassisted in receiving SNAP benefits? As Michael Tanner writes in his policy analysis, “Snap is a deeply troubled program that has high administrative costs and significant levels of fraud and abuse” (1). Which leads me to say, it is time for the state to

A History of Food Stamps The primary goal of food stamps is to increase food security and reduce national hunger in the United States. Each year, out of the one trillion dollars that the United States Government has to spend on assistance and welfare, food stamps takes up about 70 billion dollars (The History of NAP). The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP or previously known as the “Food Stamp Program) started through the Agriculture Adjustment Act (AAA) and since then has spread around its influence and authority and grown in size (Mary Clare Jalonick Associated). Throughout the past 80 years, the Food Stamp Program has been modified and reformatted, and today it aids more than 44 million Americans (Rude, Emelyn).

Since the elimination of the purchasing requirement in 1977 researchers have significantly examine trends in SNAP participation. In 1977 with new requirements and a federal standard for SNAP there was an immediate increase in participation. Shortly after 1977 the recession of 1980-1982 created another increase in participation. After the recession SNAP participation significantly declined and SNAP participation among eligible populations in the United Sates continued to decline to relatively low through the rest of the 1980s. Thought with the recession of the early 1990s, from 1990-1991, participation in SNAP again increased at a more significant rate than in the previous recession of the 1980s (Ziliak, 2013). Additionally

Money is money but if you’re living in an apartment and rent costs you $400.00 a month, you aren’t going to have enough money. If you get food stamps then you’re getting free money from the state for food. Most people get food stamps because they don’t have a job. You can only get food stamps up to the day you get a job that pays you just enough money to pay for rent and food. “The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly known as the Food Stamp Program) is the nation's most important anti-hunger program.” In order to get food stamps you have to meet the standards. “Households have to meet income tests unless all members are receiving TANF, SSI, or in some places general assistance. Most households must meet both the gross and net income tests, but a household with an elderly person or a person who is receiving certain types of disability payments only has to meet the net income test. Households, except those noted, that have income over the amounts listed below cannot get SNAP

Snap helps families bring in food for the family to eat. Most recipients of SNAP are either a child or senior citizen. Food stamp spending is only a tiny part of the overall government spending (Just Harvest). Only two percent was spent in 2012, but nineteen percent of the U.S budget is spent on defense. Food stamp (SNAP) program is highly efficient in terms of taxpayers: it reaches the majority of people who need it and has been shown to unlike our overseas engagements, the food stamps program is highly efficient in terms of bang for the tax-payers’ bucks: it reaches the majority of people who need it and has been shown to take 4.7 million people out of poverty which reduces child poverty by three percent (Just Harvest). Each dollar that is spent on food stamps benefits will double that in economic activity. The majority of Americans have supported the food stamp program and believe that cutting it is the wrong way to go. They believe it would be the wrong way to try to decrease government spending. But a way to reduce government spending is to drug test/screen applicants to guarantee that the money will be spent on food and not sold for drugs etc. They should also look deeper into who they are giving assistant to (Just

The SNAP program is based on the gross income a family makes and does not take into account the expenses that the family has such as school loans, car payments, and even household items such as diapers. Due to this system, many people who are working and making an effort to improve their lives are unable to make progress because this type of

assistance to low income individuals and families. An estimate of 1.8 million New Yorkers and a total of 46.3 million Americans participate in the SNAP program. Despite the large number of individuals on food stamp the Census Bureau reports in 2010 3.9 million people were lifted above the poverty line and 5 million in 2012 all because of the assistance from SNAP. However the federal government has threaten to cut back on the budget for SNAP. In January 2014 the Farm bill was proposed which included an 8.7 million cut to the SNAP program for the next 10 years. Obama later signed the bill into law on February 7, 2014 saying that the Bill would help create more jobs, move the economy forward and give Americans more equal opportunity (Resnikoff 1). Despite the government’s reasons for the budget cut 850 thousand households would be losing an average of 90 dollars per month (Resnikoff 1). This is unfortunate because reports have shown that SNAP is not only an effective federal program but it also has a positive outcome for individuals. Even in the previous statistics, going from 3.9 million to 5 million people lifted above the poverty line in only a two year difference is a significant breakthrough for low income individuals. It is often easy to find yourself falling under the poverty line, but harder to pick yourself back up. Many individuals who are against the program believe that being on food stamps makes an individual more government dependent and takes away the drive for