FNS Documents & Resources

This is the final report for the project, "Analysis of the Current Population Survey Data for Food Security and Hunger Measurement" conducted by Mathematica Policy Research, Inc. 

This document announces the effective date of the final rule published on Nov. 21, 2000 at 65 FR 70133.

This report presents the characteristics of food stamp households nationwide in fiscal year 2000 (October 1999 to September 2000). This information on household characteristics comes from FSP household data for fiscal year 2000 collected by FNS for quality control purposes. 

This report examines trends in FSP participation rates since 1994. It focuses on trends in the rates before and after welfare reform, and throughout much of the economic expansion of the 1990s. It also examines trends in participation rates among subgroups of the eligible population such as those with and without earnings, with and without children, and with and without welfare. It also looks at participation rates of aliens and able-bodied adults without children.

The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 imposed a work requirement and time limit on food stamp recipients viewed as fit to work – able-bodied adults without dependents. ABAWD participants are limited to three months of benefits in a three-year period unless they meet a work requirement. This study provides a national picture of how states implemented the ABAWD provisions and who was affected.

This memo gives guidance on categorical eligibility for food stamps, and new policies on vehicles as resources, under rules published on Nov. 21, 2000.

This proposed rule will increase state agency flexibility in administering the program and maximize the advantages afforded by the technology.

Over the last decade, food stamp participation rose more sharply than expected following the relatively short and mild recession in the early 1990s and fell more sharply than expected after 1994 during the sustained period of economic growth. Report language accompanying the Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act of 2001 directed the Food and Nutrition Service to study the decline in participation in the Food Stamp Program.

In order to give the new Under Secretary time to review the rule, this action delays the effective date of the final rule (with the exception of one amendment) an additional 60 days to July 31, 2001.

A decision has been made to further temporarily delay for 120 days the effective date of the rule entitled Food Stamp Program: Revisions to the Retail Food Store Definition and Program Authorization Guidance, published in the Federal Register on Jan. 12, 2001, 66 FR 2795.