In Defense of SNAP

Why Targeting Food Programs for Low-Income Americans is the Wrong Answer

From the Center For American Progress
By Sarah Sherman July 28, 2011

Many of the programs that provide vital services to low-income Americans are at risk during this current climate of budget battles and debt limit deadlocks. In particular, the nutrition programs administered by the Department of Agriculture are under increased scrutiny as Congress debates debt deals and holds hearings in preparation for next year’s Farm Bill reauthorization. At the center of these discussions and attacks is the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, formerly known as food stamps.

Nearly one in seven Americans, more than half of whom are children or seniors, receive help from SNAP in stretching their food budgets to last through the end of the month. Recent increases in program enrollment reflect both the growing need among American households and the success of outreach efforts to families who are eligible to receive these benefits.

“One of the most important aspects of SNAP is that it is structured to respond quickly to the needs of the hardest-hit households,” the administrator of the Food and Nutrition Service testified at last week’s House hearing. “Benefits flow into communities as economic conditions worsen, providing an economic boost even as they meet the nutrition needs of low-income people.”

Increased poverty and high unemployment rates in the wake of the Great Recession have certainly played a part in this rising need. At a time when so many families are struggling, it is troubling that the largest program to help low-income families buy nutritious food is being characterized as “a magnet for abuses and absurdities” that “could easily permit Trust Fund Babies driving Rolls Royces to get free food courtesy of Uncle Sam.”

Critics who claim that SNAP is wasteful are misguided for two reasons. First, SNAP has greatly improved program efficiency while maintaining record-low rates of error and fraud. And second, those who are truly worried about trimming the budget would do well to concentrate on the much greater waste found in other areas of spending, such as overpayments in defense contracts.Any instance of fraud or abuse of government funds is unacceptable and should be addressed, and the USDA has been improving its efforts to do just that. Despite this progress, The Wall Street Journal recently attacked SNAP, using infrequent cases of fraud to dismiss the entire program as problematic.

The USDA set the record straight in their “fact vs. fiction” blog post about SNAP, arguing that program fraud is at an all-time low of 1 percent. Stores and individuals involved in SNAP trafficking—selling benefits or using them to pay for nonfood items—face increased punishments under the most recent Farm Bill.

more...