Food Stamp Participation Rates
In order to receive food stamps, you must earn 135% of the poverty line or less and you must have very little in savings (less than $2000). In other words, before you are eligible, you must hit rock bottom.

Among major U.S. cities, San Diego has the lowest food stamp participation rate. Of the city's more than 800,000 hungry people, only 26% of those eligible for food stamps get them. California has the lowest participation rate among all of the states at 40%. This is money left on the table that could be injected into our communities to multiply within our local economy. And this is money that could potentially help families work their way out of poverty.

Why might someone eligible for food stamps fail to obtain them? Many point to the cumbersome application and reporting process as a reason. One former participant recalls driving to an office in the County Seat (a 50 mile drive one way) every month. There she filled out countless forms - in addition to bringing "proof" of her low income, housing costs, electric bills, and phone bills, etc. She was required to do this every month, which as often impossible as she could not afford to take a half day off work. She theorizes that the government created such an arrangement on purpose - saving money on entitlement programs by making participation more expensive to low income Americans than the benefits they could receive.

Food Stamps & The Farm Bill
The farm bill includes 10 "titles" (topics) and one of them, the Nutrition title, pertains to food stamps. Below are some of the ways the 2007 farm bill can help more hungry people access the food they need:

• Categorical Eligibility - This means that if someone is already eligible for one thing, they are automatically eligible for food stamps too. Right now, getting food stamps is a hassle because you have to fill out a ton of paperwork. If you are already filling out a big bunch of paperwork for some other government service (say, Medicaid), it would be incredibly helpful if that could get you some food stamps too. Why make people fill out a bunch of forms twice?
• Asset Limits - This refers to the rule that you have to have $2000 or less in the bank. We support increasing the asset limit. What if someone is saving for a house or saving for an emergency? We know that if they are eligible for food stamps, they are making very low wages, so it's not like they are exactly loafing off the system for the fun of it. Why not encourage responsible habits like saving?
• Benefits - Currently the benefits are about $1/person/meal. If someone has only a dollar to spend on a meal, do you think they'll go for the baby greens salad or 10 packs of ramen? (Or as one who lives on $10k/yr and is eligible for food stamps put it ... "Pineapple juice is $5. Pineapple Fanta was like $.70. Of course I got Fanta.") Healthy eating is not just an education issue. People get that fruits and veggies are good for you. If you want them to choose healthy foods, increase the benefits so they can afford them.

Last, it's possible for the government to increase the benefits each person gets BUT not spend any more money by disqualifying certain groups (single adults, immigrants, etc) from receiving any food stamps at all. That is what we don't want. We don't want to pit one group against another. There's a lot of money wasted by the heavy amounts of paperwork and bureaucracy in the system and we should streamline those areas so we can use those dollars to feed people who need food.

In general, Recipe for America supports making it easier for people to access food stamps, making sure food stamps gives them enough money to buy healthy foods, and using food stamps as a program to help people climb out of poverty instead of staying at rock bottom forever.

State Politics
Beyond the Farm Bill, state politics are key in ensuring that food stamps reach Americans who need them. Below are examples of several current bills pertaining to food stamps in one state, California.

AB 1060 - Currently Californians on food stamps need to report every 3 months. Many other states do it on 6 month intervals, and this bill would make California switch to 6 mos too. It would be a huge money saver because the bureaucracy would literally have its volume of paperwork cut in half, plus it is more user-friendly for the recipients of food stamps.

AB 1382 - Currently, CA is one of 3 states that fingerprints adults who get food stamps. This is a costly practice and obviously 47 other states found different ways to correctly identify people without using fingerprints. This bill would eliminate the fingerprinting in CA.

SB 58 - This bill is not so fun. Currently, people who somehow violate the terms of food stamps have sanctions put on the adults but not the kids. This bill would apply full family sanctions instead, so that kids are punished for their parents' mistakes. It also limits immigrants to a max of 5 years of benefits.

AB 92 - This bill makes it mandatory for severe need schools to serve a school breakfast.