Food stamp spending and participation growth over eight decades has been facilitated by Democrats and Republicans alike.
Cutting federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits, commonly called “food stamps,” is serious business anywhere in the U.S., but in no state is it more consequential than in Mississippi.
The reduction in SNAP participation is part of President Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill” reconciliation act, enacted in 2025. Since that time, SNAP participation is down 11% or more than 4.5 million Americans. In Mississippi, SNAP participation is down by 43,000 or 12.04%.
Cutting domestic spending was the intent of the OBBBA. In Mississippi in 2024, the State Department of Human Services reported that 390,761 individuals received $857.8 million in SNAP benefits. OBBBA applied work requirements to the program, which most Mississippians favor. But advocates said the bill would cut total food assistance spending by $300 billion.
The Congressional Budget Office estimates that the bill would remove three million Americans from the program and reduce government spending by over $92 billion over 10 years. Actual participation rate drops so far suggest CBO undershot that prediction.
One group that pushed back against the cuts was the National Grocers Association: “SNAP provides access to fresh and nutritious food for over 41 million Americans, including over 14 million children, 1.2 million veterans, and 6.5 million seniors. SNAP funding also supports over 300,000 American jobs throughout the food supply chain and across the U.S. From farmers and truckers to local grocers, for every $1 invested in SNAP, $1.79 of economic activity is generated in communities nationwide, making it a highly effective and incredibly efficient government program.”
The debate rages over the propriety of the food assistance spending cuts. But whether liberal or conservative in one’s views about SNAP, the fact is that a program that was born in 1939 as a way to get surplus food to the hungry has grown far faster and larger than has the American population.
In truth, SNAP participation has risen and fallen with recessions, changing poverty rates, changing eligibility rules, and federal government policy changes over the decades. The U.S. population growth was steadier and more consistent.
At the peak of the first food stamp program in 1939, some four million participants out of the total 132.2 million Americans used the program. Moving forward, the U.S. population increased from about 132.2 million to roughly 340 million, an increase of approximately 157%.
SNAP/Food Stamp participation increased from a peak of about 4 million participants in the original program to 41.7 million participants in FY 2024, an increase of 940%. Viewed strictly in terms of raw numbers, SNAP participation has clearly grown much faster than the population.
A more meaningful measure is the percentage of Americans receiving benefits. During the original 1939-1943 Food Stamp Program, peak participation of 4 million represented about 3% of the U.S. population. In FY 2024, SNAP served 41.7 million people, equal to 12.3% of U.S. residents.
The all-time modern peak occurred around 2013, when SNAP participation reached nearly 48 million Americans, or roughly 15% of the population. So, political philosophy aside, the share of Americans receiving food assistance is substantially higher today than during the original program.
That increase doesn’t necessarily mean poverty increased proportionally. Several factors contributed, including program expansions, broader eligibility rules, population aging and demographic changes, and the emergence of electronic benefits or EBT.
Over the period from 1939 to the present, SNAP/Food Stamp participation has grown much faster than the U.S. population. The population grew about 2.6 times, while SNAP participation grew roughly 10 times from the original program’s peak level. The percentage of Americans receiving benefits also increased from roughly 3% to about 12%, with a peak near 15% during the aftermath of the Great Recession.
That’s not fiscally sustainable. So, the question remains: What do Americans want SNAP to be? The temporary, transitory food assistance program it was created to be or the permanent entitlement program it has become?
Food stamp spending and participation growth over eight decades has been facilitated by Democrats and Republicans alike. Despite current rhetoric, history makes clear that both parties share responsibility for where we are and where we’re going on the food stamp question.
-- Article credit to Sid Salter for the Magnolia Tribune --
