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Have you ever heard the expression “you got a nickel holding up a dollar there?” It means focusing on small savings while letting big money go by, and it applies to the situation in California with SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly known as Food Stamps.)
While enrollment nationally in SNAP is at a record high 40 million participants due to the recession, here in California we remain enrolling eligible people at a rate of just around fifty percent of eligibility….only half the people who we know could use help getting some meals on the table while they look for scarce jobs. There are multiple ways in which California could improve its SNAP participation rate; one such opportunity has presented itself, oddly enough, through the Department of Defense.
The Department of Defense has sent California 30 million dollars to help with SNAP enrollment, but the Governor plans to use that money to displace an equal amount of money already in the budget for administering SNAP. The Governor then plans to take the 30 million being allocated by the Department of Defense, and put it into the state’s beleaguered General Fund.
On the surface this doesn’t seem like a bad idea given the state’s budget woes. However, just a little analysis reveals it would be better for both the economy and food insecure people to use the State Department’s money to increase SNAP enrollment.
Feeding the Economy
SNAP does not just feed hungry people; it serves as an economic stimulus, something we need desperately with an ailing economy and a 12% unemployment rate in the state of California. The people receiving benefits don’t stash them away in an account somewhere, they spend them right away on food, helping California businesses and bringing federal dollars into the state. In a way you could say the benefits go through the recipients rather than to them.
If California enrolled 100% of its eligible residents in SNAP, that would bring in anywhere from 650 million to 1.49 billion into the state, according to the California Food Policy Advocates. Thirty million is a good trade for 650 million.
In order to get the most out of the 30 million dollar investment by the federal government, the state of California should reprogram its SNAP eligibility computer systems to make it easier for eligible families to receive benefits.
Why that would cost 30 million would be the subject of another piece. Suffice it to say that the state’s cash and food stamp assistance programs are administered by colossal, sinister computer systems maybe somewhat reminiscent of HAL in 2001 or for younger readers, the Matrix.
In the end, it’s better to spend 30 million helping two million Californians have enough to eat than to plug a tiny hole in the state budget.
Photo credit: buzz.bishop
