<P> The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as the Food Stamp Program, provides food - purchasing assistance for low - and no - income people living in the United States . It is a federal aid program, administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, under the Food and Nutrition Service (FNS), though benefits are distributed by each U.S. state's Division of Social Services or Children and Family Services . </P> <P> SNAP benefits cost $70.9 billion in fiscal year 2016 and supplied roughly 44.2 million Americans with an average of $125.51 for each person per month in food assistance . Beneficiaries and costs increased sharply with the Great Recession, peaked in 2013 and have declined through 2016 as the economy recovered . It is the largest nutrition program of the fifteen administered by FNS and is a component of the federal social safety net for low - income Americans . </P>

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