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Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program: Difference between revisions
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (view source)
Revision as of 23:01, 21 December 2024
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=== Origin of food stamps === | === Origin of food stamps === | ||
The federal government's ability to alleviate hunger through the means of food stamps was first introduced with Congress passing the income tax law.{{citation needed|date=July 2022}} Even after the federal government had the funding to create a social safety net, its involvement in food assistance was not introduced until the 1930s, when the Great Depression caused unemployment, homelessness, and starvation to become a national issues that permeated such a high percentage of the population.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Katz|first=Michael B.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yxt-aHxbtIgC&pg=PR5|title=In the Shadow Of the Poorhouse (Tenth Anniversary Edition): A Social History Of Welfare In America|date=1996-12-11|publisher=Basic Books|isbn=978-0-465-02452-0|language=en}}</ref> At the time of the Great Depression, farmers were growing surplus produce, but unemployed and impoverished people were unable to afford to buy it.{{citation needed|date=July 2022}} The origin of food stamps were intended partially to help the poor, but just as equally to boost the economy and pay farmers a fair price for their labors.{{citation needed|date=July 2022}} 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.<ref name=MN>{{cite journal |last1=Nestle |first1=Marion |title=The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP): History, Politics, and Public Health Implications |journal=American Journal of Public Health |date=December 2019 |volume=109 |issue=12 |pages=1631–1635 |doi=10.2105/AJPH.2019.305361 |pmc=6836773 |pmid=31693415 }}</ref> | The federal government's ability to alleviate hunger through the means of food stamps was first introduced with Congress passing the income tax law. {{citation needed|date=July 2022}} Even after the federal government had the funding to create a social safety net, its involvement in food assistance was not introduced until the 1930s, when the Great Depression caused unemployment, homelessness, and starvation to become a national issues that permeated such a high percentage of the population.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Katz|first=Michael B.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yxt-aHxbtIgC&pg=PR5|title=In the Shadow Of the Poorhouse (Tenth Anniversary Edition): A Social History Of Welfare In America|date=1996-12-11|publisher=Basic Books|isbn=978-0-465-02452-0|language=en}}</ref> At the time of the Great Depression, farmers were growing surplus produce, but unemployed and impoverished people were unable to afford to buy it.{{citation needed|date=July 2022}} The origin of food stamps were intended partially to help the poor, but just as equally to boost the economy and pay farmers a fair price for their labors.{{citation needed|date=July 2022}} 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.<ref name=MN>{{cite journal |last1=Nestle |first1=Marion |title=The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP): History, Politics, and Public Health Implications |journal=American Journal of Public Health |date=December 2019 |volume=109 |issue=12 |pages=1631–1635 |doi=10.2105/AJPH.2019.305361 |pmc=6836773 |pmid=31693415 }}</ref> | ||
=== First Food Stamp Program (FSP; May 16, 1939 – Spring 1943) === | === First Food Stamp Program (FSP; May 16, 1939 – Spring 1943) === | ||
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On September 21, 1959, [[public law|P.L.]] 86-341 authorized the Secretary of Agriculture to operate a food-stamp system through January 31, 1962. The [[Dwight D. Eisenhower|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.<ref name=MN/> | On September 21, 1959, [[public law|P.L.]] 86-341 authorized the Secretary of Agriculture to operate a food-stamp system through January 31, 1962. The [[Dwight D. Eisenhower|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.<ref name=MN/> | ||
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.<ref name=":11">{{Cite book |last=Smith |first=Bobby J. II |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1353/book.114144 |title=Food Power Politics |date=2023 |publisher=The University of North Carolina Press |doi=10.1353/book.114144 |isbn=978-1-4696-7509-1|s2cid=261603810 }}</ref> 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. | 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.<ref name=":11">{{Cite book |last=Smith |first=Bobby J. II |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1353/book.114144 |title=Food Power Politics |date=2023 |publisher=The University of North Carolina Press |doi=10.1353/book.114144 |isbn=978-1-4696-7509-1|s2cid=261603810 }}</ref> 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.{{fact|date=July 2024}} | ||
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."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.fns.usda.gov/snap/rules/Legislation/about.htm |title=SNAP Legislation |publisher=Fns.usda.gov |access-date=2013-12-31}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Food Stamps|url=http://www.nyfoodstampfraudlawyer.com/foodstamps.pdf|work=Robert J. Dole Archive & Special Collections|publisher=Robert J. Dole Institute of Politics|access-date=30 October 2014}}</ref> | 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."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.fns.usda.gov/snap/rules/Legislation/about.htm |title=SNAP Legislation |publisher=Fns.usda.gov |access-date=2013-12-31}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Food Stamps|url=http://www.nyfoodstampfraudlawyer.com/foodstamps.pdf|work=Robert J. Dole Archive & Special Collections|publisher=Robert J. Dole Institute of Politics|access-date=30 October 2014}}</ref> | ||
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The House Report for the 1977 legislation points out that the changes in the Food Stamp Program are needed without reference to upcoming [[welfare reform]] since "the path to welfare reform is, indeed, rocky...."{{Citation needed|date=August 2015}} | The House Report for the 1977 legislation points out that the changes in the Food Stamp Program are needed without reference to upcoming [[welfare reform]] since "the path to welfare reform is, indeed, rocky...."{{Citation needed|date=August 2015}} | ||
EPR was implemented January 1, 1979. Participation that month increased 1.5 million over the preceding month.<ref name=":8" /> Increased participation was due to both eliminating the purchase requirement and the [[Early 1980s recession in the United States|1980 recession]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=United States. Food and Nutrition Service |url=https://archive.org/details/CAT31440254/page/n1/mode/2up |title=Food stamp program : how well is it working |date=1980 |publisher=Washington, D. C. : Office of Governmental and Public Affairs |others=National Agricultural Library U. S. Department of Agriculture}}</ref> | EPR was implemented January 1, 1979. Participation that month increased 1.5 million over the preceding month.<ref name=":8" /> Increased participation was due to both eliminating the purchase requirement and the [[Early 1980s recession in the United States|1980 recession]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=United States. Food and Nutrition Service |url=https://archive.org/details/CAT31440254/page/n1/mode/2up |title=Food stamp program : how well is it working |date=1980 |publisher=Washington, D. C. : Office of Governmental and Public Affairs |others=National Agricultural Library U. S. Department of Agriculture}}</ref> | ||
According to Maggie Dickinson in the book ''Feeding the Crisis of Care and Abandonment in America's Food Safety Net'' "The Food Stamp Act of 1977 finally eliminated the food stamp purchase requirement, which mean poor families no longer needed to have cash up front to purchase food stamps."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Dickinson |first=Maggie |url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctvqr1bbj |title=Feeding the Crisis: Care and Abandonment in America's Food Safety Net |date=2019-11-19 |volume=71 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-97377-0 |edition=1 |doi=10.2307/j.ctvqr1bbj|jstor=j.ctvqr1bbj }}</ref> | According to Maggie Dickinson in the book ''Feeding the Crisis of Care and Abandonment in America's Food Safety Net'' "The Food Stamp Act of 1977 finally eliminated the food stamp purchase requirement, which mean poor families no longer needed to have cash up front to purchase food stamps."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Dickinson |first=Maggie |url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctvqr1bbj |title=Feeding the Crisis: Care and Abandonment in America's Food Safety Net |date=2019-11-19 |volume=71 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-97377-0 |edition=1 |doi=10.2307/j.ctvqr1bbj|jstor=j.ctvqr1bbj }}</ref> | ||
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=== SNAP Benefit Allotment === | === SNAP Benefit Allotment === | ||
The benefit allotment subtracts 30% of net monthly income from a maximum monthly allotment given household size.<ref | The benefit allotment subtracts 30% of net monthly income from a maximum monthly allotment given household size.<ref>{{Cite web |title=SNAP Eligibility {{!}} Food and Nutrition Service |url=https://www.fns.usda.gov/snap/recipient/eligibility#HowmuchcouldIreceiveinSNAPbenefits |access-date=2024-09-06 |website=www.fns.usda.gov}}</ref> Net income accounts for deductions such as excess shelter costs, expected taxes, and dependent care.<ref>{{Cite web |title=SNAP Eligibility {{!}} Food and Nutrition Service |url=https://www.fns.usda.gov/snap/recipient/eligibility#WhatdeductionsareallowedinSNAP |access-date=2024-09-06 |website=www.fns.usda.gov}}</ref> USDA sets the maximum monthly allotment based on the annual thrifty food plan, their lowest cost food plan that still maintains a healthy diet.<ref>{{Cite web |title=USDA Food Plans: Monthly Cost of Food Reports {{!}} Food and Nutrition Service |url=https://www.fns.usda.gov/cnpp/usda-food-plans-cost-food-monthly-reports |access-date=2024-09-06 |website=www.fns.usda.gov}}</ref> For example, a family of four with no net income receives the maximum monthly allotment of $973 in 2024.<ref>{{Cite web |title=SNAP Eligibility {{!}} Food and Nutrition Service |url=https://www.fns.usda.gov/snap/recipient/eligibility#HowmuchcouldIreceiveinSNAPbenefits |access-date=2024-09-06 |website=www.fns.usda.gov}}</ref> | ||
=== Eligible Food Items === | === Eligible Food Items === | ||
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=== Proposals to restrict "junk food" or "luxury items" === | === Proposals to restrict "junk food" or "luxury items" === | ||
Periodically, proposals have been raised to restrict SNAP benefits from being used to purchase various categories or types of food which have been criticized as "junk food" or "luxury items". However, Congress and the Department of Agriculture have repeatedly rejected such proposals on both administrative burden and personal freedom grounds. The Food and Nutrition Service noted in 2007 that no federal standards exist to determine which foods should be considered "healthy" or not, that "vegetables, fruits, grain products, meat and meat alternatives account for nearly three-quarters of the money value of food used by food stamp households" and that "food stamp recipients are no more likely to consume soft drinks than are higher-income individuals, and are less likely to consume sweets and salty snacks."<ref>[http://www.fns.usda.gov/sites/default/files/arra/FSPFoodRestrictions.pdf Implications of Restricting the Use of Food Stamp Benefits – Summary] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304190626/http://www.fns.usda.gov/sites/default/files/arra/FSPFoodRestrictions.pdf |date=2016-03-04 }}, [[Food and Nutrition Service]], March 2007</ref> Thomas Farley and Russell Sykes argued that the USDA should reconsider the possibility of restricting "junk food" purchases with SNAP in order to encourage healthy eating, along with incentivizing the purchase of healthy items through a credit or rebate program that makes foods such as fresh vegetables and meats cheaper. They also noted that many urban food stores do a poor job of stocking healthy foods and instead favor high-profit processed items.<ref name=NYTSykesFarley>[https://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/21/opinion/see-no-junk-buy-no-junk.html?_r=0 See No Junk Food, Buy No Junk Food]. Sykes, Russell & Thomas Farley, '' | Periodically, proposals have been raised to restrict SNAP benefits from being used to purchase various categories or types of food which have been criticized as "junk food" or "luxury items". However, Congress and the Department of Agriculture have repeatedly rejected such proposals on both administrative burden and personal freedom grounds. The Food and Nutrition Service noted in 2007 that no federal standards exist to determine which foods should be considered "healthy" or not, that "vegetables, fruits, grain products, meat and meat alternatives account for nearly three-quarters of the money value of food used by food stamp households" and that "food stamp recipients are no more likely to consume soft drinks than are higher-income individuals, and are less likely to consume sweets and salty snacks."<ref>[http://www.fns.usda.gov/sites/default/files/arra/FSPFoodRestrictions.pdf Implications of Restricting the Use of Food Stamp Benefits – Summary] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304190626/http://www.fns.usda.gov/sites/default/files/arra/FSPFoodRestrictions.pdf |date=2016-03-04 }}, [[Food and Nutrition Service]], March 2007</ref> Thomas Farley and Russell Sykes argued that the USDA should reconsider the possibility of restricting "junk food" purchases with SNAP in order to encourage healthy eating, along with incentivizing the purchase of healthy items through a credit or rebate program that makes foods such as fresh vegetables and meats cheaper. They also noted that many urban food stores do a poor job of stocking healthy foods and instead favor high-profit processed items.<ref name=NYTSykesFarley>[https://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/21/opinion/see-no-junk-buy-no-junk.html?_r=0 See No Junk Food, Buy No Junk Food]. Sykes, Russell & Thomas Farley, ''The New York Times'', 21 March 2015</ref> Some data suggests that it would benefit public health by making [[soft drink|sugar-sweetened beverages]] ineligible to purchase with SNAP benefits. SNAP households use about 10% of their food budgets on sugar-sweetened beverages. Removing eligibility for sugar-sweetened beverages could result in a 2.4% reduction in obesity prevalence, 1.7% reduction in type II diabetes prevalence, and elimination of 52,000 deaths from stroke and heart attack over the course of ten years.<ref name="Bleich"/> The soda and broader food industries have received criticism for lobbying against reforms that would exclude “junk food” including soda from purchase with SNAP funds.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Oshin |first=Olafimihan |date=2023-05-09 |title=Rubio calls for Congress to bar SNAP purchases of soda, junk foods |url=https://thehill.com/homenews/house/3995624-rubio-calls-for-congress-to-bar-snap-purchases-of-soda-junk-foods/ |access-date=2024-02-04 |website=The Hill |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=O’Connor |first=Anahad |date=2016-10-10 |title=Coke and Pepsi Give Millions to Public Health, Then Lobby Against It |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/10/well/eat/coke-and-pepsi-give-millions-to-public-health-then-lobby-against-it.html |access-date=2024-02-04 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> | ||
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.<ref name=moran/> 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.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Nestle|first=Marion|date=1992|title=Hunger in the United States: rationale, methods, and policy implications of state hunger surveys|journal=Department of Nutrition, Food, and Management by the Department of Health Education|via=JSTOR}}</ref> | 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.<ref name=moran/> 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.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Nestle|first=Marion|date=1992|title=Hunger in the United States: rationale, methods, and policy implications of state hunger surveys|journal=Department of Nutrition, Food, and Management by the Department of Health Education|via=JSTOR}}</ref> | ||