Requested by President Johnson, Congress passes this act to make the pilot food stamp program enacted under President Kennedy permanent.
Some of the major focuses of the legislation were to increase nutrition among low-income households and to increase the strength of the agricultural economic sector.
The major provisions of the law were: 1
Required each state to develop an eligibility plan
Required that recipients purchase their food stamps
Established eligibility for purchased with food stamps of all items intended for human consumption except alcoholic beverages and imported foods
Prohibited against discrimination on bases of race, religious creed, national origin, or political beliefs
Divided responsibilities between states (certification and issuance) and the Federal Government (funding of benefits and authorization of retailers and wholesalers), with shared responsibility for funding costs of administration
First year funding limited to $75 million; $100 million for the second year; and$200 million for the third year.
Participation increased from over half a million in April 1965 to 15 Million in October of 1974. Most of the increases was due to the geographic expansion of the program.
Benefits were set to be based on the Thrifty Food Plan which was intended to provide a minimal-cost, healthy diet based on household size. 2
For more on Food Stamps in its current form, see here.
For for full text of the bill, see here.
Endnotes