Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program


The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly and colloquially still known as the Food Stamp Program, or simply food stamps, is a United States federal government program that provides food-purchasing assistance for low- and no-income persons to help them maintain adequate nutrition and health. It is a federal aid program administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture under the Food and Nutrition Service, though benefits are distributed by specific departments of U.S. states.
In 2018, SNAP benefits supplied roughly 40 million Americans, at an expenditure of $57.1 billion. In 2017, approximately 9.2% of American households obtained SNAP benefits at some point, with approximately 16.7% of all children living in households with SNAP benefits. Beneficiaries and costs increased sharply with the Great Recession, peaked in 2013 and declined to 2017 as the economy recovered. It is the largest nutrition program of the 15 administered by FNS and is a key component of the social safety net for low-income Americans.
The amount of SNAP benefits received by a household depends on the household's size, income, and expenses. For most of its history, the program used paper-denominated "stamps" or coupons—worth $1, $5, and $10 —bound into booklets of various denominations, to be torn out individually and used in single-use exchange. Because of their 1:1 value ratio with actual currency, the coupons were printed by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. Their rectangular shape resembled a U.S. dollar bill, including intaglio printing on high-quality paper with watermarks.
In the late 1990s, the Food Stamp Program was revamped, with some states phasing out paper stamps in favor of a specialized debit card system known as electronic benefit transfer, provided by private contractors. EBT has been implemented in all states since June 2004. Each month, SNAP benefits are directly deposited into the household's EBT card account. Households may use EBT to pay for food at supermarkets, convenience stores, and other food retailers, including certain farmers' markets.

History

Origin of food stamps

The federal government's attempt to address hunger through the means of food stamps was first introduced in the 1930s after becoming possible when the U.S. Congress passed the income tax law in 1913. After the Federal government had the funding to create a social safety net, its involvement in food assistance was introduced in the 1930s, when the Great Depression caused unemployment, homelessness, and starvation to become a national issue that permeated such a high percentage of the population.
At the time of the Great Depression, farmers were growing surplus produce, but unemployed and impoverished people were unable to afford to buy it. The origin of food stamps was intended partially to help the poor, but just as equally to boost the economy and pay farmers a fair price for their labor. In essence, food stamps were intended to create a political agreement between agriculture and the federal government by giving out excess goods in a crisis.

First food stamp program (FSP; May 16, 1939 – spring 1943)

The idea for the first food stamp program has been credited to various people, most notably Secretary of Agriculture Henry A. 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, run by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, permitted people on relief to buy orange stamps equal to their normal food expenditures.
For every dollar of orange stamps purchased, another fifty cents worth of blue stamps were received. Orange food stamps could be used at any food retailers or wholesalers, but excluded alcoholic beverages, concession stand meals that could be eaten on premises, and tobacco products. The blue stamps could only be used to buy what the USDA defined as surplus produce, which included items such as beans, eggs, fruit, and the like.
During the course of nearly four years, the first FSP reached approximately 20 million people, in nearly half of the counties in the United States at a cost of $262 million. At its peak, the program was actively assisting an estimated four million people. 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—ceased to exist. By 1943, the start of World War II had equalized the agricultural economy and the unemployment rate, and diminished the US government incentive to continue the program for those still in need.

Pilot food stamp program (1961–1964)

The 18 years between the end of the first FSP and the inception of the next were filled with studies, reports, and legislative proposals. Prominent US senators actively associated with attempts to enact a food stamp program during this period included George Aiken, Robert M. La Follette Jr., Hubert Humphrey, Estes Kefauver, and Stuart Symington. From 1954 on, US Representative Leonor Sullivan strove to pass food-stamp program legislation.
Hunger continued for the poor people of the country even after the Great Depression ended, but advocacy to reinstate the food stamp program was generally unsuccessful while the political agenda did not require it. Until 1961 when President John F. Kennedy took office, there were few pilot programs in place to help America's poor.
On September 21, 1959, P.L. 86-341 authorized the Secretary of Agriculture to operate a food-stamp system to 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. This decision still provided great advantages for retailers, and the political choice to eliminate the required purchase of surplus produce created financial gains for the producers and distributors of processed foods.
This move, however, was heavily resisted by representatives of the Civil Rights Movement. Black sharecroppers, already pushed out of agricultural work due to mechanization, lost their source of income to purchase food stamps. While White-based grocers grew profits as a result of food stamps, plantation owners utilized food stamps as leverage against former Black sharecroppers. This leverage looked like taking food stamp costs out of a sharecropper's income, permitting food stamps for only select grocers, permitting stamps for only the most expensive products, and similar maneuvers. These mechanisms consolidated White power over sharecroppers, and the move to food stamps was criticized by many Black activists.
Of the program, US 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."

Food Stamp Act of 1964

President Johnson called for a permanent food-stamp program on January 31, 1964, as part of his "war on poverty" platform introduced at the State of the Union a few weeks earlier. 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, of Kansas. Later, as a senator, after he worked on the 1977 legislation that addressed problems with the program, Dole became a staunch supporter of it.
The Food Stamp Act of 1964 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 ;
  • Prohibitions against discrimination on basis of race, religious creed, national origin, or political beliefs;
  • The division of responsibilities between States and the Federal Government, 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.
The original implementation of food stamps was intended to help working farmers earn fair wages. The passing of the Food Stamp Act of 1964 that eliminated the surplus produce clause for blue stamps helped to boost the market for processed food retailers. After 1964, when the program grew more expensive and economic effects of the Depression and world wars were forgotten, Congress introduced more intense eligibility standards for the program in an attempt to mitigate costs that went towards helping those in need. Through the 1970s and 1980s many communities made claims that federal safety net and private charities were failing to meet the needs of poor individuals who needed greater resources and access to food.