A new federal food stamp pilot program began under the Kennedy administration. It tested a model that helped low-income households buy food through normal retail stores, shaping later national policy. The first recorded transaction occurred in McDowell County, West Virginia.
Congress passed, and President Lyndon B. Johnson signed, the Food Stamp Act of 1964, making the Food Stamp Program a permanent federal-state program. The law tied food assistance to both nutrition goals and agricultural policy, embedding it in the larger War on Poverty era.
Major amendments created more uniform national rules for eligibility and benefits and added work registration requirements. This period reflected a growing policy tension that continues today: expanding access while strengthening accountability and administration.
Congress required states to expand the program to every political jurisdiction by July 1, 1974, pushing Food Stamps toward nationwide coverage. The law also added features such as disaster-related temporary eligibility standards and allowed purchasing seeds and plants that produce food.
A 1974 law increased federal participation in state administrative costs and emphasized efficient and effective program administration. This helped states manage the larger workload created by nationwide expansion while making program operations more standardized.
The 1977 farm bill (Food and Agriculture Act of 1977) eliminated the “purchase requirement,” which had required households to pay cash to obtain food stamps. Removing that upfront payment reduced a major barrier for very low-income households and helped increase participation among people already eligible.
The Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1981 was part of a broader federal effort to reduce domestic spending. For SNAP, the period is commonly cited as one in which policy changes and budget limits restrained growth compared with what it otherwise would have been.
The Hunger Prevention Act of 1988 authorized pilot projects to test electronic systems for delivering food benefits. This started a long transition away from paper coupons toward payment-card style delivery, intended to improve efficiency and reduce theft and trafficking.
The 1996 welfare reform law (PRWORA) tightened several safety-net policies and added the SNAP rule limiting many able-bodied adults without dependents (ABAWDs) to 3 months of benefits in a 36-month period unless they work or participate in qualifying activities. This marked a major shift toward linking benefits to work requirements for some adults.
Congress passed a law requiring that electronic food benefit systems work across state lines, so recipients could use benefits when traveling or moving. This helped make electronic delivery a true national system rather than a patchwork of incompatible state platforms.
The Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 required a federal name change from the Food Stamp Program to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). The change reflected the shift away from paper “stamps” toward EBT cards and aimed to emphasize nutrition assistance while reducing stigma.
During the Great Recession, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) increased SNAP benefit levels starting in April 2009. Policymakers used the program both to reduce hardship and to quickly inject spending power into local grocery markets during an economic downturn.
The Agricultural Act of 2014 reauthorized SNAP and made several operational changes affecting retailers. For example, it changed rules around free EBT equipment for newly authorized retailers and limited the use of manual vouchers except during disasters or system failures.
The Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018 reauthorized SNAP and included a set of mostly incremental program adjustments. It continued SNAP as the nation’s core food assistance program while leaving major structural changes—such as large new work requirements—out of the final law.
The Families First Coronavirus Response Act allowed states to issue SNAP Emergency Allotments (EAs) during the COVID-19 public health emergency. These temporary supplements were designed to address sudden job losses, disruptions, and increased food needs during the pandemic.
A COVID-19 relief law temporarily increased SNAP maximum allotments to 115% of the Thrifty Food Plan value starting January 1, 2021. This reflected a policy choice to increase purchasing power quickly while the pandemic continued to strain household budgets.
USDA modernized the Thrifty Food Plan (TFP), the model diet used to set SNAP maximum benefits. Effective October 1, 2021, the update increased benefit levels on average (separate from temporary pandemic add-ons) and represented the first time the TFP’s purchasing power was adjusted upward since it was introduced in 1975.
A 2023 appropriations law ended SNAP Emergency Allotments after the February 2023 benefit month, closing a major temporary expansion of the program. This shift marked the move from pandemic-era supplements back to regular SNAP benefit calculations, with many households seeing lower monthly totals afterward.
Food Stamp Program / SNAP (United States, 1961–present)