Domestic Food Assistance: Summary of Programs
Released: 2018-03-22T00:00:00

Background

This report gives an overview of the major federal programs that provide food assistance within the United States and the territories. The report begins by discussing common concepts and themes across the network of domestic food assistance programs. The report is split into two main parts: programs administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food and Nutrition Service (USDA-FNS), and programs administered by the Administration on Aging (AOA), within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Administration for Community Living (HHS-ACL). Within the USDA-FNS section are two subsections of programs: Farm Bill programs ( Table 1 ), and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) and child nutrition programs ( Table 2 ). Within the HHS-ACL section, Table 3 provides an overview of the Older Americans Act (OAA) nutrition programs. The tables within this report are intended to provide summary information, which can help illustrate the ways in which domestic food assistance programs are both similar and different.

Hunger and Food Insecurity

Congress has long been interested in issues of hunger and allocating federal resources to address hunger in this country. The federal programs discussed in this report pursue the goal of providing food to low-income and needy populations, seeking to prevent hunger. Some of these programs, such as the National School Lunch Program (NSLP), have deep roots dating to the Depression era. More recently, many policymakers are concerned not just with the economic challenges of purchasing enough food, but with the public health concerns of improving diet quality, reducing obesity, and diet-related disease.

Evaluating trends in hunger in our nation is crucial to understanding if the efforts to prevent hunger are working and in recognizing if there are particular vulnerable populations that need assistance. "Hunger," however, is a challenging concept to measure. For that reason, "food security" and "food insecurity," as opposed to "hunger," are the prevailing terms used to describe the ability to access adequate food.

"Food security" and "food insecurity," as defined by USDA, focus on those economic and other access-related reasons associated with an individual's ability to purchase or otherwise obtain enough to eat. They are also terms that can be objectively measured. For this reason, a 2006 panel convened by the National Research Council, at the request of USDA, reviewed USDA measurements related to food adequacy. The panel recommended that USDA make a clear distinction between food insecurity and hunger. According to the panel, hunger is an individual-level physiological condition that is not feasible to measure through a household survey. Furthermore, the panel stated that it is difficult to capture gradations in hunger through individual assessment. Thus, the terms food security and food insecurity do not capture those noneconomic or other individual behaviors that may result in the physical condition of being hungry. For example, these terms do not capture instances where an individual may have missed a meal due to illness or because they were otherwise too busy to eat.

Each year, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Economic Research Service (USDA-ERS) conducts an analysis based on Current Population Survey (CPS) data to measure food security in the United States. Data from the USDA-ERS's 2016 study are included in this CRS report. USDA-ERS uses terminology that indicates whether a household was able to purchase or otherwise acquire enough to eat in 2016 ("food security") or not able to purchase or acquire enough to eat ("food insecurity"). Since 2006, USDA-ERS has recognized a spectrum of four levels of food security, listed below from highest to lowest:

Food Security:

High food security — Households had no problems, or anxiety about, consistently accessing adequate food.

Marginal food security —Households had problems at times, or anxiety about, accessing adequate food, but the quality, variety, and quantity of their food intake were not substantially reduced.

Food Insecurity:

Low food security —Households reduced the quality, variety, and desirability of their diets, but the quantity of food intake and normal eating patterns were not substantially disrupted.

Very low food security —At times during the year, eating patterns of one or more household members were disrupted and food intake reduced because the household lacked money and other resources for food.

Note also that a recent congressional commission, the National Commission on Hunger, used "very low food security" as its working definition of "hunger" in its report released in January 2016.

The annual rate of food insecurity for households was 11.1% in 2007, rose to as high as 14.9% in 2011, before declining to 12.7% in 2015. The 2016 rate of food insecurity is now estimated at 12.3%, which is not a statistically significant decline from 2015. These rates, as well as the subset "very low food security," are shown in Figure 1 . Specific measurements for 2016 are the following:

12.3% of U.S. households were food insecure (87.7% of U.S. households were food secure ). This was not a statistically significant decrease from 2015. 4.9% had very low food security ; this is essentially unchanged from 5.0% in 2015. 59.0% of food insecure households reported that they had participated in SNAP, WIC, or NSLP in the last month. (This rate is unchanged from the 2015 report.)

USDA-ERS also tabulates food insecurity rates for many different subpopulations and household types, finding subgroups above and below the national rates of food insecurity. Some examples of their 2016 findings include the following:

7.8% of households that included an elderly member were food insecure . This decline from 2015's rate (8.3%) is not statistically significant. 16.5% of households that included children were food insecure . Food insecure households with children do not always include children who are themselves food insecure, as adults often shield children. Therefore, only 8.0% of households with children included food insecure children. Figure 2 , created by USDA-ERS, displays the food security and insecurity status of household members within the category of households with children. These changes from 2015 findings (which were 16.6% and 7.8%, respectively) are not statistically significant. 22.5% of households headed by black, non-Hispanics and 18.5% of households headed by Hispanics were food insecure. (These were not statistically significant changes from 2015 rates (21.5% and 18.5%, respectively).) 9.3% of white, non-Hispanic households were food insecure in the 2016 estimate, which was a statistically significant decrease from 2015 (10.5%).

Program Variation

There are a number of domestic food assistance programs. Although each of the 17 programs discussed in this report provides for food in some way, the ways in which each program accomplishes this goal vary. For example, programs vary with respect to the target population (e.g., pregnant women, children, older individuals), eligibility requirements, and types of assistance provided (e.g., commodity foods, prepared meals). In an April 2010 report, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) listed 70 programs that pertain to food and nutrition but ultimately narrowed their study to a smaller subset of 18 programs that focus on food assistance or coordination of food assistance activities.

One way to examine this variation is to compare the populations eligible for these domestic food assistance programs. For instance, the WIC program is available to children under the age of five, while the school meals programs (NSLP and School Breakfast Program [SBP]) become available to school-age children. Another way to examine this variation is to compare the benefits that these programs provide. Within this constellation of programs, federal resources provide benefits redeemable for uncooked foods, cash assistance to support program operations, USDA-purchased commodity foods (discussed further in the next section), and prepared meals. While some programs provide specific foods (e.g., through the federal and state requirements for "food package" in the Commodity Supplemental Food Program [CSFP] and WIC), SNAP gives benefits that may be redeemed for a wide variety of foods at authorized retailers. OAA programs provide prepared meals that not only assist those who lack adequate resources to purchase food, but can also assist those who lack the functional capacity to prepare a meal on their own.

The following sections of the report and the accompanying tables provide more details about the services, eligibility, participation, and funding for each program. They help illustrate the similarities and differences between the programs, including the extent to which they provide similar or distinct forms of assistance to similar or distinct populations.

USDA-FNS Programs

USDA's Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) administers domestic food assistance programs authorized in the farm bill ( Table 1 ), as well as WIC and Child Nutrition Programs ( Table 2 ). Table 1 and Table 2 provide details on the USDA-FNS programs, including services provided, eligibility, participation, and funding.

The USDA-FNS national office works in concert with USDA-FNS's regional offices and state agencies. With respect to SNAP (formerly known as the Food Stamp Program), state agencies and legislatures have a number of options and waivers that can affect SNAP program operations from state to state. USDA-FNS's "SNAP State Options" report illustrates how states are administering the program. With respect to school meals programs (National School Lunch Program and School Breakfast Program), state departments of education and school districts play a role in administering these programs. WIC as well as the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) are often co-administered by state and local health departments.

As mentioned above, USDA commodity foods are foods purchased by the USDA for distribution to USDA nutrition programs. The programs in this report that include USDA commodity foods are The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP), Commodity Supplemental Food Program (CSFP), National School Lunch Program (NSLP), Summer Food Service Program (SFSP), and Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP). USDA commodity foods are also provided to the HHS-ACL's Nutrition Services Incentive Program (NSIP) ( Table 3 ). These programs distribute "entitlement commodities" (an amount of USDA foods to which grantees are entitled by law) as well as "bonus commodities" (USDA food purchases based on requests from the agricultural producer community).

These domestic food assistance programs have a historical, and in most respects, ongoing relationship with farming and agriculture. For example, the first Food Stamp Program, a pilot program in the 1940s, sold orange and blue "food stamps" to program participants. While $1 would provide a program participant with $1 in value of "orange stamps" that could be spent on any food, the program participant would also receive an additional 50 cents worth of "blue stamps," which could only be used to purchase agricultural products that were in surplus. Commodity donation programs that supported the post-Depression farm economy were precursors to the National School Lunch Program. TEFAP and several of the child nutrition programs still benefit from USDA commodity foods as well as USDA's donation of bonus commodities, which USDA purchases based on agricultural producers' identification of surplus goods or need for price support. As a contemporary example, the 2014 farm bill ( P.L. 113-79 ), most recent child nutrition reauthorization ( P.L. 111-296 ), and USDA initiatives include efforts to promote "farm-to-school" endeavors, seeking, for example, to facilitate school cafeterias' purchasing from local and regional farms.

Farm Bill

Table 1 lists those programs that were most recently reauthorized by the 2014 farm bill. The "farm bill" is an omnibus reauthorization and extension of dozens of farm, food, and nutrition laws. Most recently, Congress passed the Agricultural Act of 2014 ( P.L. 113-79 ), which is referred to as the "2014 farm bill." The 2014 farm bill included 12 titles on topics ranging from conservation, rural development, and research to horticulture. The nutrition title, Title IV, included all of the programs listed in Table 1 .

Farm bill nutrition programs have their authorizing language in the

Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 (originally P.L. 95-113 , most recently amended by P.L. 113-128 ), Emergency Food Assistance Act of 1983 (originally P.L. 98-8 , most recently amended by P.L. 113-79 ), and Agriculture Consumer and Protection Act of 1973 (originally P.L. 93-86 , most recently amended by P.L. 113-79 ).

The primary food assistance program in the farm bill is SNAP. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO), at the time of enactment, found that close to 79% of the 2014 farm bill spending was in the nutrition title, Title IV. This is nearly all due to the mandatory money associated with SNAP. Formerly referred to as the Food Stamp Program, the federal program name change to SNAP was included in the 2008 farm bill ( P.L. 110-246 ). Further detail on SNAP, beyond Table 1 , is available in CRS Report R42505, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP): A Primer on Eligibility and Benefits , by [author name scrubbed].

Farm bill nutrition programs have generally been under the jurisdiction of the House Agriculture Committee and the Senate Committee on Agriculture and Forestry. The 2014 farm bill was enacted on February 7, 2014, and provides authorization through FY2018 (September 30, 2018) for most nutrition program activities.

WIC and Child Nutrition Programs

Table 2 lists the programs authorized by the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act (P.L. 79-396) and the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 (P.L. 89-642). Broadly, the programs contained in these laws are the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) as well as the "child nutrition programs." "Child nutrition programs" is a category used to describe the USDA-FNS programs that help to provide food for children in school or institutional settings.

The National School Lunch and School Breakfast programs provide a per-meal subsidy for each meal that is served for free, for a reduced price, or for a full price (called a "paid" meal). The Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) and Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) will, under certain circumstances, provide free meals or snacks to all the children at a site, because it is the site (not the child) that is subject to eligibility criteria. The Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program (FFVP), or snack program (see Table 1 ), is sometimes referred to as a child nutrition program. In this report, it is included in farm bill programs because FFVP was included in the 2008 farm bill.

Generally, the WIC and child nutrition programs' authorizing statutes are reauthorized for a five-year period. The most recent reauthorization, the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 ( P.L. 111-296 ), was signed into law in December 2010. It reauthorized these programs through FY2015. Policymakers have played an oversight role as USDA implements the legislation. Certain provisions from that law expired after September 30, 2015. As of the date of this report, Congress has not reauthorized the child nutrition and WIC statutes, but the vast majority of child nutrition and WIC programs and activities continue due to the provision of funding in FY2016 and FY2017 appropriations laws and FY2018 continuing resolutions.

WIC and the child nutrition programs have generally been under the jurisdiction of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce and the Senate Committee on Agriculture and Forestry. For details (beyond Table 2 information) on these programs and their reauthorizations, see

CRS In Focus IF10266, An Introduction to Child Nutrition Reauthorization CRS Report R43783, School Meals Programs and Other USDA Child Nutrition Programs: A Primer CRS Report R44115, A Primer on WIC: The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children CRS Report R44373, Tracking the Next Child Nutrition Reauthorization: An Overview CRS Report R41354, Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization: P.L. 111-296

HHS-ACL Programs

The Administration on Aging (AOA) within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Service (HHS), Administration for Community Living (ACL) administers domestic food assistance programs authorized under the Older Americans Act (OAA). These programs provide formula grants to states, U.S. territories, and Indian tribal organizations to support congregate meals in group settings (i.e., senior centers, community centers, and houses of worship) and home-delivered meals to older Americans. AOA also administers the Nutrition Services Incentive Program (NSIP), which provides funds to the same entities to purchase food for these programs. While OAA's nutrition programs provide food assistance in the form of a prepared meal to older individuals living in the community, the stated purpose of the program is not only to reduce hunger and food insecurity, but also to promote socialization, as well as the health and well-being of older individuals. Table 3 provides details on the HHS-ACL programs, including eligibility, services provided, and funding.

Older individuals who meet certain income and other requirements may also be eligible for other domestic food assistance programs administered by USDA, such as Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), the Senior Farmers' Market Nutrition Program (SFMNP), and the Commodity Supplemental Food Program (CSFP). Moreover, other services funded under OAA provide outreach, education, and referral to assist eligible older individuals in accessing these USDA benefits and programs. While senior nutrition programs are administered by AOA, there continues to be program coordination between HHS-ACL and USDA-FNS. At the federal level, states and other entities may choose to receive all or part of their NSIP allotments in the form of USDA commodities. Obligations for NSIP commodity procurement are funded under an agreement between HHS-ACL and USDA-FNS.

At the state level, HHS-ACL and USDA-FNS nutrition services programs that target seniors may be jointly administered under state aging and disability agencies, who are primarily responsible at the state level for administering OAA-funded programs. According to findings from an evaluation of the OAA nutrition services programs, 8 in 10 State Units on Aging (SUAs)—designated state-level agencies —had a nutrition program administrator (NPA) who plans, develops, administers, implements, and evaluates OAA nutrition services. In 40% of SUAs with an NPA, the NPA has program responsibilities for OAA nutrition services as well as USDA programs such as SNAP and SFMNP. Whether a state agency has some responsibility for administering HHS-ACL and USDA-FNS programs and services may depend on whether the agency functions as an independent administrative agency or part of an umbrella agency that also has responsibility for other health and human services.

SUAs may also collaborate with USDA-FNS programs. Most SUAs reported that they also collaborate with SNAP (56%) and SFMNP (62%), but collaborate less so with other USDA-FNS programs, such as CSFP, Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP), and The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP). Collaboration activities with SNAP and SFMNP included promoting older-adult access to these programs, participating in committees and workshops as well as training and assistance programs, and policy planning activities. Also, older adults participating in SNAP can use their benefits as a voluntary contribution toward the OAA meal if the nutrition service provider is authorized by USDA to accept SNAP benefits for this purpose and the older adults choose to do so.

Congress has reauthorized and amended the OAA numerous times since it was first enacted in 1965. The last OAA reauthorization occurred in 2016, when the 114 th Congress enacted the Older Americans Act Amendments of 2016 ( P.L. 114-144 ), which extended the act's authorization of appropriations for most programs, including senior nutrition, through FY2019. The 2016 OAA reauthorization made two changes to the nutrition services programs. First, it required states to "utilize" the expertise of a dietician or other individuals with equivalent education and training in nutrition science, or an individual with comparable expertise (rather than "solicit"). Second, where feasible, it added language for states to ensure that the nutrition project encourages the use of locally grown foods in meals programs and identifies potential partnerships and contracts with local producers and providers of locally grown foods.