Foods Stamps

Kenia Bush
SW 2650- Social Welfare Policy
August 02, 2017
 The social welfare program that I am

going to discuss is food stamps. The federal government provides food to low income

Americans through this program. The program started in 1939, as part of the New

Deal when so many people in the United States were unemployed. After World

War II, the program was suspended, but President Kennedy brought it back. The

federal government provides money, but does not administer the program. The

states administer the program. (Marx, J. page 173) (www.snaphealth.com)

The primary benefit of this program is that it helps to feed people that are in

need. One out every four children in the United States receives food stamps.

(www.budget.com) Without food stamps many millions of children would go hungry.

This program also helps the elderly and disabled. (www.snaphealth.com) It is a

comfort to me that this program is available to people when they dont have enough

to eat. I am very supportive of this program. People that go hungry have a tough

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time working to support themselves, taking care of themselves and taking care of

their loved ones. It just makes sense to make sure that people that are in need get

some assistance with food especially in a rich country like the United States.

Another pro of food stamps is that the rules prevent people who are working

age from 18 to 50 years old from receiving food stamps for more than three months

unless they are engaged in a workfare program for twenty or more hours per week.

This program is important because I believe no one wants to collect money and sit

at home. It is important for self-confidence to be out in the world contributing to

society. (Marx, Jerry, page 174)

One of the cons of food stamps is that there are some people who abuse the

system. It seems like there are a lot of stories on the news about welfare fraud.

One of the most recent instances was Warren Jeffs and his FLDS members

misusing food stamps. The members of the church applied for food stamps,

purchased food using the EBT card and some of the food went to a warehouse where

it was given to people who did not qualify for the program. The FLDS church told a

Federal Judge that they had a religious right to misuse a federal program.

(ebescohost.com) This is the sort of thing that gives a good program a bad name

gives people a reason to make cuts to the program. In my own experience, I met

someone who tried to sell me their EBT card (which I did not buy). However, since

the program started using EBT cards there has been less fraud because it is easier

to trace people who misuse the system when they use the EBT card. It is estimated

that the rate of fraud has dropped to around 1%. (www.snaphealth.com)

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 The Department of Agriculture decides which stores they will allow to accept

food stamps. When I looked at the list I saw most of the stores in my neighborhood

including Costco, Walmart, Smiths and Dans. However, I didnt see Harmons on

the list and I didnt see 7-11 or any other convenience stores. It might be difficult

for someone who doesnt live near one of the stores that accept foods stamps to walk

over to a store that does accept food stamps and cart food back by hand. Also, if

someone is sick it might be all they can do to walk down the block to a convenience

store for food but they wont be able to use their EBT card at a convenience store.

(www.foodstampsnow.com/ 01/14)

My position about Food stamps is that we need to help people who are

hungry. I know a lot of people think that the people who use food stamps are lazy,

but I disagree. I know a lot of single mothers who earn minimum wage and they

would have a hard time feeding their children without help. There are also people

that lose their jobs through no fault of their own or they are sick and not able to

work. These people arent lazy. They have had some troubles or maybe some bad

luck. The food stamp program also helps to prevent the costs to society from

malnutrition. People who are malnourished cant work and need medical care

which they would not be able to pay for, so they would have to go to emergency

rooms to see if they could get help if they were strong enough to get there.

In 2015, the federal government allocated $75 billion for food stamp

programs to assist 45 million low-income Americans. The cost to implement the

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program was 7% of $75 billion or $5.25 billon dollars. (www. cbpp.org, 04/17) seven

percent to implement the program seems reasonable. I have read in the newspaper

about people that want to prevent people with food stamps from buying soda or

other sugary products. (Anahad O Connor web.01/17) I think this is a great idea in

principle, but I wonder how much more it would cost to implement the program

with these kinds of limitations. It would not serve the public well if a larger portion

of the money that should be going to buy food was spent on administration of the

program.

The upshot of all this is that, the food stamp program, which is now called

SNAP began during The Great Depression, disappeared for a while and was

brought back in the 1960s. The good points about food stamps are that they

provide food to low or no income Americans in need and has restrictions that

require working age adults to have a job or be in a work program to continue to

receive benefits. The downside to food stamps is that some people who are not

entitled to the benefits are getting them by lying about their situation and another

downside is that not every place that sells food accepts food stamps which might

make it difficult for people who have transportation problems to get food when they

need it. Overall, this is an important program because it helps to prevent

malnutrition in the United States.

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 Bibliography

"Federal Judge Skeptical of Food Stamp Claims." Church & State, vol. 70, no. 1,
Jan. 2017, p. 15. EBSCOhost, libprox1.slcc.edu/login?
url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=rlh&AN=1205416
22&site=eds-live.

Food Stamp comic. Wordpress.com, International Liberty, 1 Jan. 2015,

en.wordpress.com/signup/?ref=bigassbluetop.

"List of Grocery Stores That Accept Food Stamps." Food Stamps and SNAP
Benefits. N.p., 06 Oct. 2016. Web. 02 Aug. 2017.

Marx, Jerry D. Social Welfare: the American Partnership. Pearson, 2004.

O'Connor, Anahad. "In the Shopping Cart of a Food Stamp Household: Lots of
Soda." The New York Times. The New York Times, 13 Jan. 2017. Web. 02
Aug. 2017.

SNAP Helps Millions of Children. Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, 26 Apr.
2017, www.cbpp.org/research/food-assistance/snap-helps-millions-of-children.

Snap Health - The Direct Pay Healthcare Platform. Snap Health - The Direct Pay
Healthcare Platform, www.snaphealth.com/.