Why Reform SNAP? Food Aid Is Working

One of the big surprises in the Trump administration’s latest budget was a reform proposal to replace food aid with packages of shelf-stable food items delivered to recipients’ homes. Critics laughed off the idea of “America’s Harvest Box” almost immediately. Swapping out the debit cards of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program with meal boxes a la Blue Apron drew so much derision that experts guessed that it must be a distraction. (Among those critics was Joe Sanberg, a founding investor in Blue Apron: “It sounds like a cruel and cynical joke: like Blue Apron, but for desperate poverty.”)

Even if administration figures Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue and budget director Mick Mulvaney aren’t pitching care packages in good faith—even if the Harvest Box is a nothingburger—the Trump administration still has dramatic changes in mind for food aid. The White House budget calls for cutting SNAP by $213 billion, or 30 percent, in 10 years. And the USDA is on the record as supporting work requirements for food assistance.