Government spending on food stamps has more than doubled over the last five years, but that rapid expansion wasn’t solely because of the lingering recession. The growth of the program was fueled by government efforts to offer more generous benefits. Application rules were changed to ensure more people had access to the food assistance program and the benefits each recipient got were increased.
The number of people using food stamps rose from 27 million in 2006 to 40 million in 2010. But the overall cost of the program more than doubled, from $30 billion to $65 billion, over that same time, the U.S. Department of Agriculture reported.
| The number of people using food stamps in the Washington region has increased dramatically since the start of the economic recession. With increased usage has come more than double the costs for the federally run program. | ||||||
| State | Recipients (FY 2006) | Recipients (FY 2010) | % increase | Total benefits (FY 2006) | Total benefits (FY 2010) | % increase |
| Maryland | 305,395 | 560,848 | 84% | $336 million | $878 million | 161% |
| Virginia | 506,656 | 786,157 | 55% | $526 million | $1.2 billion | 131% |
| Washington, D.C. | 89,168 | 118,493 | 33% | $104 million | $196 million | 88% |
| Nation | 26,548,833 | 40,301,666 | 52% | $30.2 billion | $64.7 billion | 114% |
President Obama’s massive economic stimulus package played a major role in the food stamp program’s expansion by providing an additional $50 billion in funding over five years. That one-time infusion allowed benefits to jump by $20 to $24 per person per month and to extend benefits for people whose benefits otherwise would’ve run out — certain categories of adults without children, for example.
At the same time, the federal government allowed states to make food assistance available more quickly to the newly unemployed. The rules were also changed so that people with some savings can still qualify for food stamps. In the past, savings could be counted against the applicant’s potential benefits.
“When the feds offered that, we snapped it up,” said Rosemary Malone, Maryland’s director of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP.
The District followed Maryland’s lead in adopting the new rules that expanded the program, but Virginia was one of eight states that declined the more lenient standards.
Under the new rules, residents can apply for food stamps as long as their income does not exceed 200 percent of poverty, or about $47,000 per year for a family of four. Under the stricter guidelines still used in Virginia, the cutoff is 130 percent.
Virginia’s benefits director, Tom Steinhauser, said the state turned down the offer in part because complying would’ve required the state to spend more on its already-strapped public welfare program to comply with federal rules.
Ideologically, too, the state took a stand.
“I understand that people don’t want to use personal savings for something like food,” Steinhauser said. “But at some point, they have a personal responsibility to do so.”
