Temporarily increase food stamp benefits

By Ellen Fisher on December 18, 2008
© The Gazette

As the Dec. 12 editorial "Don't let the Grinch steal Christmas" highlighted, local non-profit and social service agencies urgently need our generosity. But in hard times, hungry Iowans shouldn't have to rely solely on gifts; they deserve government help.

Federal nutrition programs strain to serve more participants while food costs rise.  Eastern Iowans should urge Rep. Dave Loebsack and Sens. Chuck Grassley and Tom Harkin to include temporary funding increases for nutrition programs in the next economic stimulus package.

In congressional testimony last July, the chief economist of Moody's Economy.com compared potential gains from 13 stimulus options ranging across rebates, tax cuts and spending increases.  Most effective by far was a temporary increase in food stamp benefits, now known as Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP. Each additional dollar in SNAP benefits generates $1.73 in increased economic activity, compared with an increase of only 30 cents per dollar cost in cutting corporate taxes.

The Labor Day 2008 State of Working Iowa report by nonpartisan Iowa Policy Project documented the decline since 2001 in Iowa wages for low-wage and median-wage workers and stagnating wages for high-wage workers. While statewide wages stagnated, job-provided health insurance shrank in availability and increased in cost, and college costs rose sharply. Even before the economic meltdown this fall, the report concluded, "Taking into account wage and income stagnation, stark inflationary pressures, and an increasingly tattered safety net, we are — with each new business cycle — poorer and less secure."

Maintaining safety nets is a critical government function.

Ellen Fisher

Cedar Rapids [Iowa]