The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as the Food Stamp program, provides financial assistance for purchasing food to low- and no-income people living in the U.S. It is a federal aid program, administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, though benefits are distributed by individual U.S. states.
In the 2011 fiscal year, $76.7 billion in food assistance was distributed. As of March 2012, 46.4 million Americans were receiving on average $133.14 per month in food assistance. In Washington, D.C., and Mississippi, more than one-fifth of residents receive food assistance.
Since June 2004, all states have used Electronic Benefit Transfer (debit card) for food stamp benefits. For most of its history, however, the program actually used paper-denominated stamps or coupons worth US$1 (brown), $5 (blue), and $10 (green). These stamps could be used to purchase any prepackaged edible foods regardless of nutritional value (for example soft drinks and confectionery could be purchased on food stamps).
In the late 1990s, the Food Stamp program was revamped and actual stamps were phased out in favor of a specialized debit card system known as Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) provided by private contractors. Many states merged the use of the EBT card for public-assistance welfare programs as well. The 2008 farm bill renamed the Food Stamp Program as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (as of October 2008), and replaced all references to "stamp" or "coupon" in federal law to "card" or "EBT."
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