Study: Huge food stamp expansion ‘feeding inflation, not stopping hunger’

by WorldTribune Staff / 247 Real News August 24, 2023

Team Biden’s massive expansion of food stamp benefits is linked to at least a 15 percent increase in the price of groceries, a new study said.

Overall spending on the Supplemental Assistance Nutrition Program (SNAP) more than doubled between 2019 and 2022, according to the study released on Thursday by the Foundation for Government Accountability (FGA). The program went from $4.5 billion in 2019 to $11 billion in 2022.

“USDA cooked their books to hike food stamp benefits by 27% — the largest permanent increase in program history. And they bypassed Congress to do it,” said Jonathan Ingram, Vice President of Policy and Research at the Foundation for Government Accountability.

The study also estimated that Congress could get back more than $193 billion in taxpayer funds if lawmakers repealed the Biden team’s food stamp expansion.

The Biden Department of Agriculture rolled out revised nutritional standards for federal food benefits in 2021 that expanded the program by roughly 25% from pre-Covid levels, the study said.

“Data show the Biden administration’s overreach led to massive spikes in grocery prices. They’re feeding inflation, not stopping hunger.”

The study cited research from the World Bank that “found that a one percent increase in per-capita food stamp benefits increased grocery store prices by 0.08 percent.”

“Put another way: Food prices increase by one percent for every 12.5 percent increase in food stamp spending,” the study said.


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