Global Business and Economics Program Senior Fellow Douglas Besharov testifies before the House Committee on Agriculture on the review of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP):
Chairman Conaway, Ranking-Member Peterson, and members of the Committee, thank you for inviting me to testify on this important topic.
My name is Douglas Besharov, and I am a professor at the University of Maryland School of Public Policy, where I teach courses on poverty alleviation and program evaluation. I also direct our Welfare Reform Academy (WRA) and our Center for International Policy Exchanges (CIPE). I am also a Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council, where I conduct research on international competitiveness and comparative domestic policy.
The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is a large and complicated program. Together with other safety-net programs, civil rights advances, and economic growth, SNAP eradicated income-related, severe hunger and malnutrition among the poor that motivated the program’s creation.