Food Stamps Essay

Food stamps came about during the era of the Great Depression where the government would issue a voucher for people with low income to trade in the voucher for food. Food stamps do have regulations such as how much food a person can obtain based on how many people are in the household. These regulations help the government decide who needs assistance and how much they can obtain each month. Food stamps are specifically designed for food and nothing else such as paper products, medicines, or alcoholic beverages. Even though food stamps benefit a multitude of people, there are also some people who abuse the system and commit food stamp fraud. Food stamps are beneficial to low-income families who may also have malnourished children and who cannot

Kennedy reestablished the Food Stamp Program in 1961 but instead of having stamps for surplus foods Kennedy eliminated this option for citizens. “Major revisions were made to the program in the Food Stamp Act of 1977, including the elimination of the requirement that participants purchase the stamps” (Snap to Health). During the time Ronald Regan was president, the Food Stamps Program received budget cuts because of the increase in number of hungry people in America. “Some funding was restored to the Food Stamp Program in 1988 and 1990 in order to combat the hunger crisis in America” (Snap to Health). A certain amount of funding was restored, but it was harder to obtain food stamps and use them. Paper food stamps have been used ever since the beginning when they were first introduced, but in the late 1990s the Electronic Benefit Transfer cards were made current. “The cards were instituted to reduce program fraud [and] ensure ease of use of food benefits by program participants” (Snap to Health). After EBTs were made, children eighteen and younger were able to start participating in the benefits of the Food Stamps Program. Since children were now able to participate, society considered that most of the concerns with child poverty would be gone, but is child poverty actually

However there are people in today’s society who take advantage of the SNAP system and commit fraud. “SNAP fraud is when SNAP benefits are exchanged for cash” (Fraud). This is illegal because when people trade in their benefits for money then they can buy anything they would like. Fraud is defeating the original purpose of food stamps which is simply being able to purchase food. Fraud is not only committed when people receive cash back but also when people lie about how much money they receive each month. “SNAP fraud also happens when someone lies on their application to get benefits or to get more benefits than they are supposed to get” (Fraud). People are not the only ones who commit. Retailers can also commit fraud if they have abused the system and try to regain access. “SNAP fraud also happens when a retailer has been disqualified from the program for past abuse and lies on the application to get in the program again” (Fraud). SNAP continues to happen today, but the United States Department of Agriculture has improved the system in fighting