More Than 500,000 Americans Stand to Lose SNAP Benefits

Who uses SNAP?
SNAP eligibility rules require that participants be at or below 130% of the Federal Poverty Level. Recent studies show that 44% of all SNAP participants are children (age 18 or younger), with almost two-thirds of SNAP children living in single-parent households. In total, 76% of SNAP benefits go towards households with children, 11.9% go to households with disabled persons, and 10% go to households with senior citizens.

According to demographic data, 39.8% of SNAP participants are white, 25.5% are African-American, 10.9% are Hispanic, 2.4% are Asian, and 1% are Native American.


How many people use SNAP in the United States?
As of January 2016, 45.4 million persons were participating in SNAP.


What is the average SNAP benefit?
In 2015, the average SNAP client received a monthly benefit of $126.39, and the average household received $256.11 monthly.


What percent of the people who are eligible participate in SNAP?
According to the most recent data, approximately 75% of people who are eligible for SNAP actually participate in the program.


Where can SNAP benefits be used?
SNAP benefits are acceptable forms of payment at any SNAP retailer. SNAP retailers can apply for certification online through the USDA. All SNAP retailers must meet basic “stocking requirements”: the retailer must sell at least seven varieties of food in each of four basic categories (meat, poultry, or fish; bread or cereal; vegetables or fruits; and dairy products) on a continuous basis, and must offer perishable food items in at least three of those four categories.


What can SNAP benefits buy?
SNAP benefits can be used to purchase all food products, not including: beer, wine, liquor, cigarettes, or tobacco; any nonfood items; vitamins and medicines; foods that will be eaten in the store; or hot foods.


What is the Thrifty Food Plan?
The Thrifty Food Plan is the metric that the USDA uses to calculate the maximum monthly allotment of financial assistance to SNAP recipients. TFP consists of a market basket of foods that form a low-cost nutritious diet based on federal nutrition guidelines. The cost of this basket is calculated each month to adjust for changing the costs of food.

There are 15 Thrifty Food Plan market baskets, each formulated to fit the nutritional requirements of specific gender or age groups in the United States. TFP market baskets include ratios of grains (including whole grains), vegetables, fruits, milk products, meat and beans, and other foods as determined by the Recommended Dietary Allowances and Dietary Guidelines for Americans issued by the USDA. The baskets are arranged with the goal of obtaining minimal cost for sufficient nutrition.


How long do SNAP benefits last?
SNAP benefits vary from household to household, depending on the number of people within a household, the employment status of the recipient(s), the age and health of the recipient(s), etc. For most healthy adults between the ages of 18 and 50 (without children), SNAP benefits are limited to a 3-month period, at which point the recipient will have to submit a renewal application. Most households under the SNAP program receive benefits for a 6-month period before requiring renewal. Benefit periods can range from 1 month to 3 years.


What are the rates of fraud and abuse in SNAP?
Since the program has been established, SNAP has frequently been a target for accusations of fraud and abuse of the system. SNAP beneficiaries are accused of cheating the system by receiving greater benefits than would befit their income status or exchanging SNAP benefits for cash. In reality, fraud within the SNAP system is extremely low. With the introduction of the EBT cards, most opportunities for fraud have been removed, and an electronic trail now exists to facilitate the tracing of abuses in the system.

According to a recent USDA analysis, SNAP reached a payment accuracy of 96.19% in 2012 (the highest that the program has ever seen). Trafficking rates—the number of benefits exchanged for cash—are at 1%. There is always room for improvement, but SNAP is currently functioning at the highest level of integrity the program has seen yet.

-info from SNAP website FAQ



Some info I didn't know. I'm actually glad some of my tax money goes to help others, I just don't want it to be a cructch. 3 years of benefit eligibility sounds extreme unless we are talking about the elderly or disabled.

originally posted by: jimmyx

originally posted by: DBCowboy
a reply to: xuenchen

Hunger is a great motivator.

for what crime?

If you think that criminal activity is the only way you have to feed your family without government feeding you, then you're the one with the problem.

originally posted by: BELIEVERpriest
a reply to: xuenchen

Gotta love socialism.

Selective discrimination.

a reply to: xuenchen

I know there are all kinds of reasons people need help. I'm basically a conservative, but I'm also a compassionate
human who believes no one should be hungry with all the resources we have in this country.


I also put my money where my mouth is, I give to many charities, more than a tenth and I'm retired on a fixed income.
I've also been very fortunate and never needed charity myself. I'd not deny it to any in need.

originally posted by: xuenchen
Looks like many Americans will be losing food stamp benefits real soon.

Apparently many states have been waiving work requirements for people aged 18-49.

A clause inside the 1996 Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act is going to be "enforced" again.

These ATS threads are ON FIRE this year, aren't they? 5 pages in 3 hours! Wasn't this 1996 PRAWO act the brainchild of President Bill Clinton? It seems strange that a Democrat would force people to work in order to get benefits. Sounds more like something you'd expect from a Republican President, doesn't it?

a reply to: carewemust

Finally somebody got the punch line.

originally posted by: carewemust

originally posted by: xuenchen
Looks like many Americans will be losing food stamp benefits real soon.

Apparently many states have been waiving work requirements for people aged 18-49.

A clause inside the 1996 Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act is going to be "enforced" again.

These ATS threads are ON FIRE this year, aren't they? 5 pages in 3 hours! Wasn't this 1996 PRAWO act the brainchild of President Bill Clinton? It seems strange that a Democrat would force people to work in order to get benefits. Sounds more like something you'd expect from a Republican President, doesn't it?

He had a Republican controlled Congress with spine that more or less forced him to sign it. I think they had the means to override his veto.

originally posted by: ketsuko
a reply to: eluryh22

I agree, but I also think that a lot of our compassion is a learned thing. We are taught compassion by our parents, our faith, our cultural surroundings. Greed and competitiveness we come by naturally as they are pure survival skills. A baby minutes from the womb is already displaying those two.

That's why parents and the process of raising our children is so important and why I find so many of the Millennial generation so disturbing. They tend to filter compassion for others through a selfish filter of what makes them feel good. It's like society is starting to swing toward the attitude of "I only care about you if it makes me feel good to do so."

It's funny you should say.
(about the parenting aspect because I agree)

Although I like to think I always conducted myself in a proper way and treated people fairly... ever since our son was born a bit over four years ago I've added a simple filter to my actions (particularly but not exclusively in work related matters). I have not been shy in telling my coworkers and associates, when they ask about my decisions, that "My choices are very easy to make these days."

When they ask, "Why?" I have no problem explaining...

In ten or twenty or thirty or forty years from now, if my son asks me why at THIS point in time I did what I did, why I made the choices I made, how I treated people the way I did...... would I be proud of my actions?

Sometimes I catch some heat but overall, but through that filter I do my best to make sure the answer is YES! Before I make decisions, I think about what I am teaching him. It has served me well (and although I can't say for sure, I suspect I have SLIGHTLY affected some of those around me).

a reply to: ketsuko

And in a lot of those households, they still don't get access to it because mom fences the SNAP for cash and goes and buys booze or other things.

How much is "a lot" exactly? 1%? 5%? 10%? 25%? 50%? 75%? 99%?

a reply to: introvert

How about corporate welfare?

The public cost of poverty wages (Annual cost of public assistance to to employees of):

McDonalds: 1.2 billion

Yum (KFC, Taco Bell, Pizza Hut): 648 million

Subway: 436 million

Burger King: 356 million

Wendy's: 278 million

Outside of fast food?

Walmart: 6.2 billion

Other things we don't need:

1 trillion in upgrades for our nuclear arsenal

1.5 trillion in "the war on terror" (as prosecuted, since it seems all we are really good at is arming next year's new terror du jour frenemy....)

I can do this all day.

originally posted by: DBCowboy
This is truly sad.

How many would perish if the great and mighty government ceased to exist?

You can't have it both ways though. Before agriculture there were 8 million humans on the planet.

Before industrialization, there were 800 million.

Industrialization allows us to support a planet with billions of humans living on it. In the event of total anarchy? I'm guessing we'd be back down to about 1.5 billion. Of course, there would be new government long before the shakeout was complete.

In the meantime, 80% of the population would be dead. Including most of us, I'm afraid. How long do you think I'd last with my arsenal against hundreds of thousands of starving people? Because that's really what it comes down to.

originally posted by: GD21D

originally posted by: xuenchen
Looks like many Americans will be losing food stamp benefits real soon.

Awesome!!! Now conservatives have something to really cheer for am I right?

Being a heartless POS is great isn't it?

"High fives all around"

and from OP post:

During the economic downturn, many states instituted waivers to override these limits. But now that the employment rate has improved, the restrictions came back into effect in 40 states on January 1, 2016—meaning that some recipients will start feeling the impacts in April.

President Bill Clinton signed PRWORA into law on August 22, 1996, fulfilling his 1992 campaign promise to "end welfare as we have come to know it".

And Obama could easily have issued an EO back in January or even today to "unrestrict" the clause. Why the #tsling on conservatives?

a reply to: 0zzymand0s

So we're screwed, regardless.

Slaves to the state. Can't complain too loudly, they might not feed us!

a reply to: ketsuko

Actually welfare reform was a central part of Clinton's campaign so he sort of painted himself into a corner. He didn't pursue it actively and he drug his feet a bit but when vetoing a third bill wouldn't have been politically expedient.

The PRWORA passed with half the Democrats voting yea in the House (98) and 25 out of 46 Democrats + Joe Lieberman voting yea in the Senate.

If he had vetoed it you can bet enough of those Democrats would have changed their positions to keep the veto from being overridden. You're giving Bill far too much credit.

originally posted by: 0zzymand0s
How long do you think I'd last with my arsenal against hundreds of thousands of starving people?

Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Give a man a human corpse and he might feed for a week. That's my plan at least.

Because that's really what it comes down to.

I don't know what it'll come down to ... but I hope I live long enough to see it.

originally posted by: DBCowboy
320 million in America.

100 million work.

220 million don't, for whatever reason.

So we have 100 million supporting 220 million.

And the 100 million is shrinking and the 220 million is growing.

I felt that this post was underappreciated, I quoted it for all to read again.

originally posted by: jimmyx

originally posted by: DBCowboy
a reply to: xuenchen

Hunger is a great motivator.

for what crime?

In some States, the crime is feeding the poor.

Florida is one.

a reply to: In4ormant

Because after 3 years the low end job that most workers have suddenly pays a livable wage?

That makes no sense at all, it is meant to make it so people who can't afford to live, can afford to eat.

Does hunger end after 3 years?

I mean think logically here, today a very large percentage of full time workers will never be able to make enough to live off of.

There just aren't enough decent jobs.

Unless that problem is fixed, any time limit is idiotic.

a reply to: Sargeras

Unless the person in those three years realizes that the job they have isn't a job that pays well and decides to look into a more lucrative career, like a specialized trade (HVAC, mechanical jobs) or attend college, even if only to earn a one year certificate in something like "hotel management" in order to move up the ladder. I mean, doing the same thing every day will get you the same outcome. If you want a different outcome, you'll have to figure out how to change your input. And do WHATEVER it takes to get there. Some people aren't willing to do that - they work the same low paying job year after year and demand that everything else changes (the minimum wage being one example) instead of them changing. That is not everyone, of course, but my point is that a lot can change in 3 years but its all up to the person. Opportunities are there for those who honestly seek them and are willing to make sacrifices to attain them.

I do of course support aid for those truly in need and yes there are people who unfortunately are in that situation for a very long time. I only address what you said about 3 years at a low end job - perhaps some of those people should start looking into ways to get a not-so-low-end job. And the aid is there in the meantime until this happens. You can't do the same thing for three years and wonder why things haven't changed.

originally posted by: GD21D

originally posted by: xuenchen
Looks like many Americans will be losing food stamp benefits real soon.

Awesome!!! Now conservatives have something to really cheer for am I right?

Being a heartless POS is great isn't it?

"High fives all around"

500k compared to how many on it?

Keep giving it out until no one has nuttin, right?

now that's heart!