Although launched by Democratic presidents, the food stamp program saw its largest expansion under the stewardship of a Republican president, Richard Nixon , in the wake of Senator Robert F. Martin Luther King, Jr. The food stamp program continued to receive bipartisan support in the years that followed. Republican Senator Bob Dole and Democratic Senator George McGovern spearheaded the passage of the Food Stamp Reform Act of , which strengthened anti-fraud provisions and eliminated the requirement that recipients purchase food stamp coupons.
A social worker with the Cooperative Feeding Program displays a federal food stamps card that is used to purchase food like a debit card. Beginning in , electronic benefit transfer cards, similar to debit cards tied to benefits accounts, replaced paper food stamps.
The measure further reduced fraud, since recipients could no longer sell stamps instead of using them to purchase food. Gritter says the biggest misconception about the history of the food stamp program is that it grew only with Democratic support.
George W. Bush expanded food stamps, particularly in the Farm Bill that restored eligibility for legal immigrants. By: Peter Feuerherd. February 26, February 26, Share Tweet Email Print. Have a correction or comment about this article? Please contact us. Food Stamps: An Analytical History.
Social Science Review, Vol. Join Our Newsletter. More Stories. In , additional funds for the program were authorized, and the participant cost was further reduced; however, food stamps still were not free. In December , the program provided even greater benefits for families in need. During the recession, there was public pressure to increase the food stamp budget for food stamps, while the government was trying to reduce the program to save money. In , the Carter administration finally revised the food stamp program so recipients did not have to pay for the stamps.
The program replaces physical food stamps with an Electronic Benefits Card EBT with which recipients can purchase food. After the program ended, as the war went on, commodity distribution programs continued but were quite inadequate. During the following years, there were many attempts to bring back a food stamp program, but these efforts were opposed by Southern Democrats who had control of the House Agriculture Committee.
Any such program, including commodity distribution, was seen as a threat to Southern farmers, who did not like the idea of their labor force having independent purchasing power. They depended on their control of very poor and largely black laborers. Republicans representing Midwestern agricultural areas had similar concerns. Both these groups often opposed any expansion of welfare programs. The next food stamp program was not begun until The first program, in contrast, was begun without any involvement of the executive or legislative branches but was moved into action solely by the USDA, under preexisting statutes.
Bush but was enacted over his veto on June 18, The new EBT system did not have a minimum dollar purchase amount like food stamps of the past.
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