The Long Road to SNAP

For every dollar spent on orange-colored stamps, purchasers received an additional fifty cents worth of blue ones. The orange stamps could buy any food, but the blue stamps were for purchasing surplus foods that otherwise might not have sold. So began the first food stamp program in the United States, implemented toward the end of the Great Depression to address “unmarketable food surpluses and widespread unemployment.” Unlike earlier efforts to address these conditions—which required farmers to reduce their crops and livestock artificially—this program aided farmers, businesses, and Americans experiencing food insecurity alike. But this first program was short-lived, ending after just four years. After a decade and a half of research, advocacy, and failed attempts at legislation, a team of U.S. senators authored the Food Stamp Act, signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson. The Act authorized the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary to administer a food stamp program through which income-eligible households could obtain coupons to purchase food. The Act also delegated the eligibility process and coupon issuance to state agencies and required retailers to apply for authorization to accept coupons. Since their inception, food stamp programs have ignited criticism from those who fear the programs could permit fraudulent applications for benefits and abuse by retailers. Indeed, the first retailer found to be violating the program did so within the program’s first year. But reporting from the USDA suggests that these concerns may be misplaced, since applicant fraud, misuse of benefits, and retailer fraud are infrequent occurrences. The present program—called the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)—is now weathering significant reform. In fact, a Trump Administration rule that took effect earlier this month could leave 700,000 people without their SNAP benefits. This week’s seminar explores the benefits individual households and the U.S. economy reap from SNAP, potential ways to improve the program, and the implications of the new SNAP rule