Analysis of the SNAP Program 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.

Food stamps are an important component of low-income families’ monthly resources, increasing the chances that families are able to meet basic needs (Ratcliffe, McKernan & Finegold, 2008). This form of food relief dates back to the Great Depression when many Americans lost their jobs and did not have money to feed their families. People were starving while farmers produced abundant crop that could not be sold due to a lack of consumers with buying power (Dorsch, 2013). The Federal Surplus Relief Corporation which was a part of the Agricultural Adjustment Act, bought basic farm goods at low prices and distributed the among hunger relief agencies in different states and local communities (Congressional Digest, 2013).

Today SNAP is the new name of the federal Food Stamp Program. “SNAP stands for

For each of these three recommended actions to be implemented into policy, several things need to occur. For the SNAP policy update and increase in funding recommendation, a general consensus among the United States Department of Agriculture needs to be on board that this is a necessary action. The USDA regulates the SNAP program, so they are the primary agency that would update the policies to further enhance eligible food items and restrict purchasing of unhealthy food. They have the resources of dieticians and medical doctors that understand nutrition, and can differentiate between what healthy and unhealthy food products are. They already have restrictions based on eligible food items, but they do not have any restrictions based on the

SNAP benefits are limited to 3 months for most healthy, able-bodied adults where a renewal application is required for an extension (Snaptohealth). If the amount of time for people to be on benefits is increased will allow them to focus on other aspects of their life to improve their living or working conditions. Only 3 months of SNAP benefits is not a significant amount of time to allow someone to make significant attempts to get out of poverty. Allowing people to spend more time on this program they can use that time to try and save additional income to put it towards better

As of January 1, 2014, roughly 4.1% of Americans are welfare, which is not what the system was designed to do (Department of Commerce). Welfare was originally created in the 1930’s during the Great Depression in order to aid to citizens with little to no income (welfareinfo.org). It was a response to the great number of people without jobs and who desperately needed assistance with money and basic needs such as food and shelter (welfareinfo.org). For the next 61 years the United States government would hold control of the welfare system (welfareinfo.org). According to the Department of Commerce, 46,700,000 Americans are on food stamps (Department of Commerce). The Department of Commerce divided welfare recipients into categories of race finding that, 39.8% of welfare holders are African-American (Department of Commerce).

I asked my friends whether or not they would be able to take the SNAP challenge, and also what are their thoughts on this problem of people living on such a small budget. On Twitter, the poll was 50/50. Voters voted that some could live on the $6-7 dollars, and then the others said they could not (Anna Kate Campbell 2017). Then on Facebook, 7 out of 9 friends stated that the SNAP challenge can be done. Some of the individuals even stated that they are/or have lived on this budget before. However, two friends brought up the fact that individuals taking the challenge or who live on this budget have to grocery shop intellectually. Many individuals can buy junk food which does not nutritionally feed a family. The other friend also brought up the topic and fear that many individuals can misuse the welfare system (Anna Kate Campbell

The federal food stamp program (SNAP), makes up the largest portion of the budget for the US Department of Agriculture.1 In New York alone 15.3% of residents receive benefits from the SNAP program.2 The purpose of SNAP is to provide nutrition to low-income citizens, however SNAP beneficiaries experience higher rates of obesity compared non-reciepiants.3 According to a report published by the USDA, Americans use food stamps to buy more than $600 million worth of “sweetened beverages,” and bought hundreds of millions more of junk food and sugary snacks.4 Lack of regulation and reform to the SNAP program is causing harm to the public.

If eligible, families receive services such as x-rays, doctor visits, diagnostic testing, and etc, for free or may be required to pay a reduced amount of the bill. The welfare system has changed over the year from a long-term to short-term assistance in order to encourage independency. Not only does the tax funded welfare programs provide a means of distributing the wealth across the country, but also control poverty in America and improve the standard of living for low-income families.

Food stamps have helped a lot of people out and I have no doubt about that in my mind. Many families depend on

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

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

In 1935, Franklin Roosevelt signed into law the Social Security Act which, among other things, provided for the financial, medical, and material needs of the poor (Komisar 125,128). Since then, there have many additions and reforms to the bill, none of which has served to quell the controversy surrounding the effectiveness of the welfare system in the United States. The main concerns of the distribution of welfare dollars and resources can be answered by the questions ?Who gets assistance?? and ?How much do they receive??. The U.S. welfare system is administered by the Department of Health and Human Services, which attempts to answer these questions through a system of minimum incomes, government-calculated poverty levels, number of children, health problems, and many other criteria. This complicated system leads to one of the critiques of the welfare system?that it is too large and inefficient. President Lyndon Johnson declared a ?War on Poverty? in 1964 designed to alleviate the burden of the poor and established the Food Stamp program the next year (Patterson 139). In 1996, a major welfare reform bill was passed that placed time limits on welfare assistance, required able participants to actively seek employment, and implemented additional services for the needy (Patterson 217).

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

There are lots of things the government helps citizens in the United States of America with, some programs consist of helping with food, money, and housing. These programs are known as supplemental nutrition assistance, temporary assistance, section 8, and even Medicaid. This great program helps needy families and individuals who need a little assistance with their living expenses. Some people think that these programs are hand outs from the government, but most people don’t think that simply because families come in many different sizes and lots of people are not able to work like most people are. Welfare programs provide food to families who really need the help from the government.