America’s first Food Stamps were orange or blue. Citizens eligible for government relief
bought a one dollar orange ticket at face value, redeemable for any food item. Accompanying
every orange stamp was a free blue ticket worth 50 cents, that could be used to
buy surplus food items: meat, milk, eggs, or seasonal produce that the
government purchased from farmers. This was the 1930s, and federal nutrition
assistance, along with support to help farmers conserve the soil and earn fair
prices, were essential elements of what we know today as the Farm Bill. Food stamps
were what helped many desperate families put food on the table.
Eighty years on, Food Stamps continue to be one of the ways
America grapples with its hunger problems. Paper coupons have given way to less
stigmatized Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) cards—monthly monetary allotments
assigned to a debit card. But the numbers are staggering. As a result of the
economic contraction that started in late 2007, nearly 50 million people,
one-third of them children, are now in poverty (up from 31 million in 2000).
The number of U.S. citizens applying for food stamps, now known as the
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), has nearly tripled since
2001. In the month of October 2012 alone, three years into our economic
“recovery,” nearly 1 in 7 Americans—47.5 million people— participated in the
SNAP program.
These monthly Food Stamp enrollment tallies, however, don’t
demonstrate the magnitude of poverty in the U.S. or the true function of the
program. Critics of big government and social assistance often use the Food Stamp
program as a punching bag for wasteful, excessive and fraudulent entitlements. But
the fact is, a majority of people use Food Stamps as a temporary safety net
between jobs—not as a permanent solution to hunger. Many are working families struggling
to raise themselves out of poverty. USDA estimates that as many as 65 million
Americans received SNAP benefits for at least one month during 2012—1 in 5
Americans.
“People don’t aspire to enroll in the SNAP Program,” says
Stacey Dean, of the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities. “By far, the SNAP
Program serves people who, because of the stress and hardship of poverty, face
a genuine lack of access to healthy and affordable foods.”
Even in the era of 99-cent value meals, Food Stamps play a
crucial role in providing calories to hungry Americans. As the economic
recovery drags on, and as deficit reduction talks heat up, the annual Food
Stamp budget—which now totals $75 billion per year—will become a prime target
for cost cutters. The values of food assistance must be part of those
deliberations.
1. Food stamps are part of the U.S. Department of
Agriculture’s Farm Bill. While most people associate the Farm Bill with
subsidies for corn and soybean farmers, in fact, its largest line item is the
SNAP program, which accounted for more than 75 cents of every dollar spent by the
Department of Agriculture in 2012.
2. The Food Stamp program mainly serves people in need.
The USDA’s official term for hunger is “food insecurity.” These are people who
regularly skip meals because of a lack of resources. It could be a senior
citizen, with hefty medical bills and fixed income, who must choose between
medicine and food. Or it could be one out of every six American children for
whom Food Stamps along with the School Lunch, Breakfast and Snack programs governed
by the Child Nutrition Act, are an essential bridge between hunger and
starvation.
3. Many food stamp recipients have employment income.
Over 60 percent of participating households earn income that they contribute
toward the family food budget—it’s just not enough to stave off hunger.
4 . No one is buying filet mignon with food stamps. The
maximum monthly allotment—$200 per individual and $668 for a family of four—nets
out to around $2 per meal. Big city mayors, celebrity chefs such as Mario Batali,
and others have taken on the challenge of living on a Thrifty Food plan for a week
at a time. All have complained about temporarily foregoing caffeine, snacks,
and things many Americans take for granted—and feared running out of money.
5. Food stamps function as an economic stimulus.
President Obama’s economic stimulus plan (the American Recovery Reinvestment
Act of 2009) provided tens of billions of additional dollars for food
assistance programs. Studies show that every Food Stamp dollar spent actually
generates at least $1.74 in the broader economy. This is called a “multiplier
effect.”
USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack regularly reminds audiences that
the Food Stamp program helps farmers too. “Producers get somewhere between 15
and 16 cents of every food dollar that’s spent in a grocery store and a
restaurant,” he told the American Farm Bureau Federation in Nashville in
January 2013. “And to the extent that families are empowered during struggling
times to be able to buy adequate groceries for their family, at the end of the
day that also helps American producers.”
6. Food stamps have a positive effect on health and
nutrition. According to the Food Research and Action Center, the SNAP
Program lifted nearly 4 million Americans above the poverty level in 2011 by
boosting monthly income. Providing relief from hunger yields positive impacts
on body weight, learning abilities, and reducing the incidence of chronic
diseases—particularly among children.
The recent rise in Food Stamp enrollment offers an important
window into the crisis of poverty and hunger in America. Some might view it as solid
proof of failed economic policy. Instead we should look at as a way to assess
whether and how government is doing
its duty—investing in the health and well-being of all of society for the long
term.
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