WHY AMERICA SHOULD SAVE SNAP

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program ("SNAP") is a key element of our country's response to poverty. It has been highly successful in alleviating hunger, lifting people out of poverty, and supporting our economy. The program is also operated in a highly efficient and effective manner, especially given its immense size and scope. Given this record, it is not surprising that, for most of its history, SNAP has enjoyed strong bipartisan support. However, in recent years, SNAP has come under sustained attack from the right. That attack now threatens the program's very existence. In this paper, I argue that, for reasons of economic as well as social policy, Congress must resist attempts to destroy or diminish SNAP and should instead work to strengthen the program as much as possible.