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Bill USA

(6,436 posts)
Mon Dec 23, 2013, 09:01 PM Dec 2013

SNAP Costs Leveling Off, Almost Certain to Fall Next Year - Center on Budget and Policy Priorities

http://www.cbpp.org/cms/index.cfm?fa=view&id=4054
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Recent government data show that SNAP spending, which doubled as a share of the economy (gross domestic product or GDP) in the wake of the Great Recession, fell slightly as a share of GDP in fiscal year 2013, which ended September 30.[1] (See Figure 1.) Moreover, CBPP projects that, in fiscal year 2014, SNAP spending will not only continue to decline as a share of GDP but will fall 5 percent in nominal (non-inflation-adjusted) terms, largely because of the expiration this month of the 2009 Recovery Act’s benefit increase.[2] As the economic recovery continues and fewer low-income people qualify for SNAP, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) expects SNAP spending to fall further in future years, returning to its 1995 levels by 2019.

As a House-Senate conference committee considers changes to SNAP as part of the Farm Bill, some critics have called for large SNAP cuts in part on the grounds that SNAP is growing out of control. But these recent data show that that the spending growth has ended and that SNAP is following the pattern of previous recessions, as CBO and other experts expected.

Background: SNAP Grew Significantly in Response to Recession

SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) caseload growth in recent years resulted primarily from more households qualifying because of the recession and more eligible households applying for help. CBO has confirmed that “the primary reason for the increase in the number of participants was the deep recession . . . and subsequent slow recovery; there were no significant legislative expansions of eligibility.”[3]

SNAP caseloads grew in part because more households qualified for the program due to the recession and lagging recovery. The number of people with incomes below 130 percent of the poverty line (the SNAP income limit) rose from 54 million in 2007, before the recession, to 60 million in 2009 and 65 million in 2012, allowing more households to qualify for help from the program.
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SNAP Costs Leveling Off, Almost Certain to Fall Next Year - Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (Original Post) Bill USA Dec 2013 OP
Oregon has shrunk SNAP recipients by 90,000 this past year. nt grasswire Dec 2013 #1
Or need rises as SNAP funding shrinks. TheKentuckian Dec 2013 #2
uhhhh...what? Doctor_J Dec 2013 #3
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