The food stamps program, officially called the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), helps about 43 million people buy food. But the administrator currently in charge of SNAP is worried that assistance could soon be cut.
Kevin Concannon is the USDA’s Under Secretary for Food, Nutrition and Consumer Services. He says a majority of the SNAP recipients hold jobs, but they don’t make much money.
Concannon says people outside of the program don’t always believe that – instead insisting SNAP is fraught with fraud and misuse. And he says it’s that message that is growing in Washington D.C.
“I’m frankly more worried about voices in Congress who would like to block grant the program because I see that as just a way to weaken it, to make it less accessible to poor people across the country,” Concannon says.
He says simply providing grants to states or local governments does not guarantee the people most in need will get enough assistance.