Enrollment in food stamps, the premiere U.S. antihunger program, at latest count was the lowest since July 2011, according to USDA data. Some 45.4 million people received food stamps in April, the most recent month for which figures are available. Participation soared following the 2008-09 recession to peak at a record 47.8 million in December 2012, and the cost of the program more than doubled, reaching nearly $80 billion in fiscal 2013.
The downturn in enrollment – and costs – is a result of the improving economy, said the think tank Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. “CBO and others expect [food stamp] spending to continue to decline as the economy recovers and the number of … participants falls,” the center said in a report in February. “CBO expects spending to fall every year as a share of GDP, returning to its 1995 level by 2020.” Food stamps “will not be contributing to the nation’s long-term fiscal problems,” it said.
Republicans in Congress have proposed converting food stamps to a block grant or restricting eligibility as ways to reduce costs, which they said were out of control and a burden on taxpayers. The House Agriculture Committee launched a top-to-bottom review of the program early this year.
The Center on Budget estimates 1 million people will lose food stamp eligibility in 2016 with the end of waivers that allow unemployed adults to collect benefits for more than three months in a three-year period. The three-month limit, for unemployed adults who are not disabled or raising children, is waived in areas with sustained high jobless rates.
At the White House Conference on Aging, the USDA unveiled a proposal to allow people with disabilities and homebound older Americans to order groceries from home and pay for them with food stamps if the purchase and delivery is routed through a government or nonprofit service. One-fifth of food-stamp recipients are elderly or disabled. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said the proposal would help ensure access to healthy food. “This issue has a particular importance for seniors living in rural areas, as America’s rural population is older than the nation overall and rural seniors experience higher poverty than seniors nationwide,” Vilsack said in a statement.
The USDA said it would seek up to 20 food-purchasing-and-delivery services for a one-year test of the order-from-home idea. The pilot program will help shape the final rule, it said. The initiative was authorized in the 2014 farm law. The participation rate in food stamps for the elderly is half the rate for other groups.
The proposed rule is available here.