Food Stamps and The Supplemental Assistance Program

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).

It has been reported across media that the number of food stamp recipients has increased tremendously, reaching an all time high of 5 million people (Matt, 2013). The amount forgone is approximately $175 million (Matt, 2013). Of this amount, $75 million has been distributed to individuals who do not meet the eligibility criteria (Matt, 2013). In his research study, Matt (2013) indicated that for every $60 in benefits, Texas doled out close to $6.11 to people or recipients who are not eligible (Matt, 2013). The national average stands at $3.05, which shows that Food Stamp fraud in Texas is alarmingly high (Matt, 2013). This shows clearly that Food Stamp fraud is indeed destroying the economic potential of Texas. The amount used in order to provide benefits to fraudsters is supposed to be used in other areas of economic worth. However, believing that the needy citizens are being assisted, Texas has continued to use its revenues for unwarranted courses of action. Furthermore, the food stamp fraud is costing the tax payers immensely. As such, the cost of benefits provided under this program is met by the tax payers. As such, they must pay some income tax, some of which is channeled into the food stamp course. With an increase in the number of recipients, it means that the tax payers have to forgo more. This, as a result, ensures that those who are economically active continue to suffer at the expense of

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

Time to go to the grocery store with only $29.00 worth of food stamps for the

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

Over 8.2 million seniors over the age 60 face the threat of food insecurity, up 78% from a decade ago affecting one in seven seniors. The rise in food insecurity is primarily seen among senior Americans with income less than $30,000 or one to two times the poverty level. Younger seniors between the ages 60-69 are becoming more likely to become food insecure than older adults, due to early retirements and not being able to rely on Social Security or Medicare until they reach 65. Elder malnourished patients experience 2 to 20 times more complications and 100% longer hospital stays. Good nutrition is vital to helping America’s 34 million seniors to stay healthy,

Most teenagers that are attending high school have jobs. Like I said most teens! They are either working because they believe that having their own money will prevent them from asking their parents for any type of financial help for anything. Most teens start work at fast-foods places, shoe stores and retail jobs. Once they get that bi-weekly check my question to you is what do you spend your check on?

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

President Lyndon Johnson first introduced food stamps in his term of office in 1964, because he saw food stamps as "a realistic and responsible step toward the fuller and wiser use of an agricultural abundance," Frederic N. Cleaveland, Congress and Urban Problems (New York: Brookings Institution, 1969, p. 305) but revision had to be made. Therefore, food stamps have been around since 1977 when the food stamp provision of the Food and Agriculture Act of 1977 made changes to eliminate purchase requirements and simplify eligibility. The eligibility for purchase with food stamps of all items intended for food consumption excluding alcoholic beverages, and where simplified eligibility included; established statutory income eligibility guidelines at the poverty line, raising the general resource limit to $1,750, and eliminating the requirement of households having a cooking complex. Changes of the new program included fraud disqualifications, enhanced Federal funding for States' anti-fraud activities, and financial incentives for low error rates. But in

There are many social programs that should continue to be funded and permanent for as long as needed including EBT Food Stamps, reduced or free meals, unemployment benefits, housing vouchers, and other programs involved with social security. There should be constant funding and this is done by the help of government and taxing those in the top 1%, considering they hold all the wealth and income in the country. Children who grow up in low-income families are exposed to more environmental stressors, such as less access to healthy food, unsafe neighborhoods and stressed parents. A way by relieving some of the mental and developmental problems that poverty can cause for a kid is having amazing, nurturing, and high quality schooling. We should

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

For many years low-income families have been stigmatized due programs destined to provide welfare. Most of the families that are in need of economic support undergo a scrutinized agenda, which most of the time, question by question undresses recipients by stripping their dignity. In my childhood we used something similar to food stamps. We were a family of 12 members, parents and 10 children. I remembered my mother crying full of anger and frustration when the government sent a letter saying: “Your case is under revision.” Even if “revision” looked like a positive reason (it could mean an increase of benefits), this meant checks would be delayed at least for two months…

In today’s modern society, the United States faces many public policy issues, whether those issues include social welfare, immigration or even environmental issues. Congress receives numerous issues on public polices every day, but they cannot handle and solve every issues that comes across their daily agenda, nor can they satisfy every person in this country. Congress prioritizes on those issues that are more important and relevant to find a probable solution too. A growing issue we see that in today’s society are issues in the social welfare system. Social Welfare has so many issues within some of those issues include the food stamps, and even in the healthcare system. The matters in social welfare requires every individuals help to resolve, not just congress. The second major public policy issue we face in American today are within the Public Assistance Programs. Those programs include the SNAP, SSI, and even the TANF program.

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