Food Stamps, And There Importance Within Society. Food

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 Stamp is a government-funded program in the United States. This is a program that helps people buy food for their families; in other words, it is a very important program to families living in poverty. It is the nation’s most important program in the fight against hunger. This program was developed in the 1960’s; it is made to improve the nutrition level and food purchasing power of people with low-income. This program is offered to people who cannot afford to buy groceries for their families, regardless of age, color, sex or religion. Food Stamps can only be used to buy food items not hygiene or household items, and it’s offered only on a monthly basis.

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).

In the United States of America, there is enough food in this country that the total amount of agricultural exports is enough to feed everyone twice over (Dorsch, 2013). The problem is that even though there is so much food in this country millions of people require assistance to purchase the food and feed their families. Dating back almost 100 years, the now called Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP) has evolved to keep up with the changing needs of the Country. In 1933 SNAP was built into Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA). The AAA was put into law during the great depression. The purpose of the law was to help farmers deal with the excess supply of crops by having the government subsidize the cost. The government would also distribute these crops to relief agencies and local communities (The History of SNAP). In 1964, President Lyndon Johnson signed into law the Food Stamp Act. With this legislation enacted it was now required to purchase stamps. These stamps also had bonus amounts that were determined by income level. In the 90’s and early 2000s major changes were done to SNAP. The electronic benefit transfer (EBT) card was

the Food Stamp Program to give the economy a boost so that people would spend more money

Did you know that 17% of Americans in rural areas live below the poverty line, and out of those 17%, 15 million of those individuals are children? (Hunger In America 2014). The month of September was Hunger Action month and many individuals helped raise awareness by taking the Food Stamp (SNAP) Challenge. This challenge consists of an individual living on the SNAP balance of a $6-7 per day budget for food. Many individuals came to the realization that this is a difficult budget, and does not meet the nutritional needs for a family.

This writing will be about the usage of food stamps, or maybe I should say the abuse of food stamps. I see a lot of food stamp abuse in my work environment and i would like to find out how they really work and if the system is really abused. I intend to learn and research about the background of food stamps and how the system really got started along with its original intentions. I would also like to research people's personal encounters with them, may it be what they have seen or the stories of the people who actually have them, whether they abuse them or use them for their good.

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

only conviction, and twelve states have eliminated the ban entirely. Lastly, women are disproportionately affected by such provisions since they are the primary recipient of these welfare benefits. Since the adoption of the welfare reform law of 1996, an estimated of 92,000 women in 23 states, which more than half of them were African American and Latina (Mauer, 2003). Public Assistance such as food stamps is a critical component to support their family, how the state handles the loss of eligibility varies, with some actions being more punitive than others. For example, Texas has a lifetime ban on food stamps for people convicted of a drug felony. The state loses out on federal funds that could be used to help people with drug felony convictions

As I drive by 2520 Irving Blvd Street, I distinctly recall what it felt like to walk out of the Department of Workforce Services building after I figured out that my family qualified for food stamps. There wasn’t a rainbow that day, after sharp flowing sprinkles fell from the sky. The parking lot was vacant for the most part. As our family walked to our old, beat up car my mother had shed a tear of relief. For some people that don’t know what food stamps (S.N.A.P.) are, it is benefits from the government usually based on total gross income. The total amount of money the state will provide depends on several criteria. Before you judge, which I odds are you’ve already done, given that I just told you that my family was impermanently on public assistance. First off, my mom tried to do everything right. She stayed up late on Wednesday nights clipping coupons. She baked her own bread. She steered away from credit card debt. She drove a 10-year-old car. She even tried to get her GED except her French is stronger than her English and she couldn’t comprehend much. Amongst the United States is handling an ongoing issue about the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (S.N.A.P.), which is nearly dropping 47 million Americans whom don’t qualify for food stamps. Overall would increasing hardship and food insecurities for families that severely need it. While some people milk the system and don’t benefit our country trying to abuse it we will talk about how great the amount of cuts

He signed an Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA) that created the Federal Surplus Relief Corporation. This program bought basic commodities and distributed them to relief agencies. In 1939, Henry Wallace created the Food Stamp Plan. May, 1939, Mabel McFiggin, an unemployed factory worker was the first to collect stamps to buy surplus foods in Rochester, N.Y. During the Depression, many found need of assistance. That was the first preliminary program to help the needy started by President Roosevelt. “Food stamps originally came in two colors: recipients bought orange stamps, which could be used for any kind of food, and they were given half that amount in free blue stamps, which could be used to buy designated surplus foods (all but the most destitute had to make some payment to receive food stamps until 1977)(James, 2009).” This type of food stamps helped about 20 million people until 1943.

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).

In 1997, there were many changes to the Food Stamp Act. Some of these changes includeed the dismissal of the requirement that applicants purchase the stamps, the “elimination of the requirement that participants purchase the stamps; the establishment of uniform national standards of eligibility; the expansion of the program to minority communities; more federal support for the implementation of the program at the state level; and restricted access to benefits for students enrolled in a university.

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, otherwise known as SNAP, originates from the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1933. It was established in the Great Depression era as the Federal Surplus Relief Corporation when crop prices fell drastically and farms were struggling to deal with the excess supply. The Federal government bought the surplus as discounted prices and distributed them to hunger relief agencies. In 1939 as part of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal program, the Food Stamp Plan was created by Secretary of Agriculture Henry Wallace to formalize the food distribution efforts. Although this initial program ceased in 1943 because of a decrease in the number of people living in poverty, it was reintroduced in 1961 by President John F. Kennedy through a food stamp pilot program. In 1964, the Food Stamp Act was passed by President Lyndon Johnson. This program required the purchase of “stamps” based on the participant’s income level to permit the purchase of low-cost nutritional food. After a program revision in 1977 which ended the requirement for participants to purchase stamps, a nutritional educational program called SNAP-Education was added to the food stamp program in 1981. This program allowed states to apply for matching funds from the Federal government to deliver nutrition education to eligible persons. In the 1990s, efforts were made to streamline administration of the program which included the introduction of an Electronic Benefit

Skepticism of people’s true need ties into the support of the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formally known as Food Stamps. By the 1990’s conservatives and some liberals argued that the Johnson-era reforms had created a culture of dependency on government aid. In 1996 Congress overhauled the welfare system by imposing work requirements and putting time limits on cash payments to the needy. This act caused the SNAP rolls to drop, but the economic crisis that began in 2007 pushed the national unemployment rate above 9 percent. With unemployment at an all-time high this forced millions of families to seek government aid. In response to this new need the SNAP program was expanded as part of the stimulus package in 2009. This expansion was intended to be a temporary fix with cuts to the program to being in 2013. The thought