Food Stamps

SNAP is beneficial to the economy

SNAP is known to be a powerful resource for economic stimulus. The USDA research has shown that for every five dollars in new SNAP benefits, nine dollars of economic activity occurs. When families are able to receive their benefits, they use them to purchase groceries and various items for their families, which helps to meet the needs of their family while also working towards keeping local businesses in control and active. When people do not have any way to pay for food, they have no way to help provide support for these types of businesses in their area.

SNAP meets increased needs during economic downturn issues

During the recession, the food stamp program expanded to serve families that were affected by the issue the most. As the economy improves, the program will adapt to those changes. Although poverty increased during the recession, food insecurity remained flat which is generally due to the food stamp program’s role in being able to help families provide food for each other when it was needed the most.

SNAP keeps families out of poverty

The food stamp program plays a large role in keeping families that are living on the brink of poverty from actually slipping into poverty. It has been shown that the food stamp program actually help to lift 4.7 million households out of poverty during 2011. Without the program, child poverty would have been nearly 3 percent higher.

The majority of SNAP recipients are children or elderly

Information released by the USDA during November 2012 shows that 45 percent of the food stamp program recipients were under the age of 18 and nearly 9 percent were 60or older. More than 40 percent of these recipients were working to try to support themselves and needed assistance with being able to afford food. This proves the stereotype belief that people who receive SNAP benefits “don’t work” is not true.

Cuts to SNAP would affect low income families

The House version of the farm bill would cause more than 2 million Americans to lose their benefits entirely. 210,000 children would lose access to free meals at school while 850,000 households would see their benefits being cut by around $90 per month. This would make it almost impossible for some families to be able to afford any food to feed everyone in their household.

Even though some people need SNAP, they still feel ashamed of using it. Although there are plenty of people who use the program legitimately and never participate in any form of food stamp fraud, many people who use food stamps feel ashamed because of the stigma that has been associated with the program and with users of the program. It’s something that many people don’t even want to admit because they feel like they will be judged or accused of living off of the government when someone discovers that they are using food stamps to help pay for their food or to feed their family on a monthly basis.