SNAP SPENDING DROP EXCEEDS EXPECTATIONS

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO), which has consistently predicted that SNAP spending will fall over the next decade, now predicts that it will fall even faster. In updating its February projections, CBO lowered its estimate of total SNAP spending over the next 10 years by about $24 billion for “technical” reasons — primarily because CBO has cut its estimate of the average benefit per person (now about $1.40 per person per meal) — and by another $8 billion due to the SNAP cuts in the Farm Bill enacted in February.  The total reduction rounds to $33 billion over the 2015-2024 decade. CBO now projects annual SNAP costs will fall from $83 billion. The main reasons for the decline are the recovering economy, which will shrink SNAP caseloads, and the expiration of the 2009 Recovery Act’s benefit increase last November.

 

Source: Center for Budget and Policy Priorities, 4/18/14, SNAP Drop