This chapter focused on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known

as Food Stamps, it is the most essential food assistance program in the United States. SNAP serves a
diverse variety of disadvantaged and near-poor people, including the elderly, disabled, families with
children, parents, students, and the unemployed, since it is widely open to qualifying users. Additionally,
SNAP is a successful initiative because it raises the amount of money available to buy food and family
savings on food, lowers the risk of recipients facing food shortages, and promotes economic and health
outcomes. SNAP improves the economy, particularly through economic downturns, in addition to
alleviating family misery and enhancing individual results. Moreover, SNAP is a powerful automatic
stabilizer that reacts rapidly at specific moments, in specific environments, and with specific people who
are feeling the consequences of recessions. SNAP acts as a safety net for households during economic
downturns, subsidizing food intake during times of unemployment or underemployment. Recipients
expend their SNAP incentives efficiently, providing a fast fiscal boost to the local economy, including the
grocery, wholesale, and transportation services that supply the produce. Somehow this policy is alike with
the 4Ps in the Philippines but it caters other needs of families.

The paper also looked into the challenges in its implementation. Recessions have a wide variety
of negative effects for employees, families, and the economy as a whole. Policymakers must also
prioritize finding solutions to effectively and consistently counteract recessions. SNAP is intended to close
the difference between a family's cash resources for food sales and the expense of a simple food budget.
Families are eligible for payments if their compensation is poor enough that there is a difference between
their total money for food purchases and the expense of a frugal diet, as determined by the benefits
calculation. The aged, disabled, families with children, caregivers, employees, and the unemployed are
among the beneficiaries of SNAP. In principle, having unearned income like SNAP bonuses should
minimize work commitment, but in reality, the results are usually minor. SNAP is now one of the most
cost-effective and productive spending systems online. It will rapidly respond to economic downturns by
quickly enrolling those who become eligible due to temporary income reductions, in addition to its vital
position in alleviating families' temporary economic burdens and allowing them to buy required food. As a
result, SNAP funds are quickly invested in local areas, enhancing their efficacy as a fiscal stimulus. The
researchers proposed reforms that would enhance the automatic stabilizer role of SNAP. The researchers
recommend that SNAP job requirements be shortened or removed altogether. Thus, during national
economic downturns, the researchers recommend a 15% rise in the SNAP maximum gain, as determined
by the parameters. The two initiatives seek to build on the base of eligibility extensions and
compensation improvements that made SNAP a successful automatic stabilizer during the Great
Recession. To keep and improve SNAP as an automated stabilizer, it's critical to keep the program's
current structure while making minor adjustments that will help it to grow more rapidly at the start of a
recession and further boost the economy during it. In addition to these potential changes, they would
warn against legislative choices such as increased job standards and a SNAP block grant, all of which will
reduce the program's effectiveness and usefulness as a stimulus. The paper also mentioned the reforms
cited by the researchers regarding SNAP work requirements. They are described as follows; job
requirements distract from SNAP's position as a safety net that assures that all Americans have enough
money to buy food. SNAP's function as an automatic stabilizer is also harmed by these job criteria,
establishing a new national trigger to remove SNAP work requirements during downturns and the
avoidance of work requirement expansions.

The paper looked into raising benefits during downturns since the Supplementary Nutrition
Assistance Program (SNAP) increases nutritional benefits. It enhances children's outcomes by providing
critical dietary assistance. SNAP increases baby and child wellbeing, and SNAP participants are less likely
than non-participants to face medical difficulties. The paper also proved that SNAP also eliminates the
risk of financial distress, both at the time of receipt and in the long term. Receiving SNAP lowers the
chance of missing rent or mortgage payments, as well as utility bills.

In lieu of the presented facts above, SNAP is a cost-effective and flexible program that helps
households overcome temporary financial difficulties while also acting as an instant fiscal stabilizer for the
economy during economic downturns. It easily offers needed services to families in financial hardship.
Those efforts are then used by those families in their local neighborhoods, boosting the economy.