Abstract: A reference text for decision-makers and policy planners in food and nutrition policy and program areas reviews regulatory and developmental aspects of the US federal food stamp program (FSP). The 6 themes of the text are focused on 2 major areas: interactions between regulations and the development and context of the FSP (hunger as a federal issue; the rationale of the FSP; regulatory reform; FSP cut-backs); and aspects of federal regulations, social policy, and the political process associated with the FSP (congressional-administration interactions in rule-making; the administrator's environment and the significance and exercise of administrative discretion). The material is based on some 40 elite interviews (with congressmen, legislative aides, career civil servants, lobbyists, White House staff, political appointees in the Department of Agriculture, and OMB officials) and on data obtained from Department of Agriculture and White House files. A discussion of the continuing concern about hunger in the US is appended. (wz).

Considers S. 13, S. 35, S. 231, S. 250, S. 302, S. 358, S. 714, S. 981, S. 1627, S. 1662, S. 1672, S. 1673, S. 2528, S. 2451, S. 1993, H.R. 8145, S. 2369, S. 2537, H.R. 10244, H.R. 7887.

Many of the households participating in the Food Stamp Program contain a person who either pays or receives child support. In 2002, Congress made changes in the food stamp laws that affect these households, especially those that contain a person who is paying child support. This memorandum summarizes the proposed regulations that cover these changes and discusses some of the issues they raise.