Snap!

I love words with many meanings. Growing up, "snap" to me was "Snap, Crackle, Pop" from Rice Krispies. In fact, "Snap" was my favorite of the three characters. Today, the Urban Dictionary defines snap as "a word used to express a feeling of excitement generated during an unexpected or impressive event. The meaning of the word depends on its context and can range from disappointment to extreme satisfaction." Finally, don't for get about the "Snap to it!" direction we would sometimes receive in the military, from parents, or at school. 

Yes, there is one more definition of snap that today seems to supersede the others. SNAP is an acronym for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program - in other words, food stamps. So where did this program come from? The pilot for food assistance operated from 1939-1943, and was seen as an innovative way to respond to severe hunger caused by the Depression while also supporting farmers. In 1943 the program ended as it was perceived the need was no longer there. In 1961, pockets of hunger were showing up and a pilot food stamp program was started. This lasted for three years. On Jan. 31, 1964, President Johnson requested Congress to pass legislation making the pilot food stamp program permanent. Secretary Orville Freeman submitted proposed legislation to establish a permanent food stamp program on April 17, 1964. The bill eventually passed by Congress. Among the official purposes of the Food Stamp Act of 1964 were strengthening the agricultural economy and providing improved levels of nutrition among low-income households.

The 2008 farm bill (H.R. 2419, the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008) was enacted May 22, 2008. The new law increased the commitment to Federal food assistance programs by more than $10 billion over the next 10 years. In efforts to fight stigma, the law changed the name of the Federal program to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program or SNAP as of Oct. 1, 2008, and changed the name of the Food Stamp Act of 1977 to the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008. States maintained flexibility to name the program on their own but were encouraged to change the name to SNAP or another alternate name. In fact, more than ten States had already changed the names of their programs by this time.

Fast forward to today. As the Democratic Party holds its convention this week, President Barak Obama's handling of the economy has been held under the microscope. The president's critics point to the fact that food-stamp use reached a record 46.7 million people in June. Participation was up 0.4 percent from May and 3.3 percent higher than a year earlier and has remained greater than 46 million all year. This is a jaw dropping number. What is more is the increase in the expense of the program. Food-stamp spending more than doubled in four years to a record $75.7 billion in the fiscal year that ended in September in 2011 and is the U.S. Department of Agriculture's biggest annual expense. With this fiscal year ending at the end of this month, the amount spent on SNAP will most probably be higher than the $75.7 billion from last year.

In fact in June of this year, the Senate passed its version of the Farm Bill. This is a five-year, half-trillion-dollar bill that cuts farm subsidies and land conservation spending by about $2 billion a year but largely protects sugar growers and some 46 million food stamp beneficiaries. Food stamp spending has doubled in the past five years, and beneficiaries have grown from by about 20 million to 46 million. The program's budget is now about $80 billion a year, comprising 80 percent of the spending in the farm bill.

So here we have SNAP. A program which is needed, yet vulnerable to fraud and misuse. With 46,700,000 out of our population of 314,000,000 using this program, it represents a staggering 15% that require hunger and nutrition assistance. This is up from 7% only five years ago. For a country so rich in resources and opportunities, these numbers are simply amazing.

That is the story of SNAP. Somehow that word, which use to bring back childhood memories of a breakfast cereal and the cartoon characters associated with it, now means something so very different to me.