Food Assistance

About 39 million people receive federal food assistance through the Agriculture Department's (USDA) Food and Nutrition Service. In fiscal year 1992, the Service and state agencies jointly ran 14 programs that provided food assistance at a federal cost of about $33 billion--about 58 percent of USDA's total budget; about 63 percent of this went to children. This report provides information on (1) USDA's food assistance programs; (2) the strengths and weaknesses of the current multiprogram approach; and (3) alternative approaches to delivering food assistance identified by federal, state, and other officials.

GAO found that: (1) in fiscal year 1992, the Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) and state agencies jointly operated 14 programs that provided food assistance at a federal cost of $33 billion; (2) the 14 programs, which vary considerably in objective and delivery approach, have evolved over a 46-year period without the benefit of a comprehensive federal food assistance policy; (3) FNS needs to refine its federal food assistance policy statement and establish specific goals, map out a unified approach for achieving goals, and describe how individual programs relate to the overall effort; (4) strengths of the current multiprogram approach include the flexible mix of benefit packages and distribution methods, the ability to reach more eligible recipients through overlapping programs, and the protection of individual food program funding from across-the-board budget reductions; (5) the multiprogram approach's weaknesses include multiple and difficult application processes, duplicate management functions that increase administrative costs, and difficulty in assessing the comprehensive impact of efforts; (6) selective program consolidation, streamlining, or elimination could address some of the multiprogram approach weaknesses; and (7) the current administration is reviewing food assistance programs in its evaluation and reform of the welfare system and will consider policy options for restructuring food assistance programs.