Congress Can Help Puerto Rico Escape the Food Stamp Poverty Trap

Each year, the U.S. Congress allocates over $400 million for food assistance to support more than 250,000 residents of Puerto Rico who are able-bodied adults without dependents, and are between the ages of 18 and 54. Notably, this financial assistance does not come with a work obligation. Congress does not apply this approach to any of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, or even to Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Beneficiaries of nutritional assistance in these jurisdictions are under the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP), which includes a work requirement. It's time to bring Puerto Rico into the same program.

Puerto Rico began participating in the Food Stamp Program in 1974, transitioning to an $825 million annual block grant in 1982 under the Nutritional Assistance Program (NAP), catering to 1.69 million residents. Presently, it operates on a $2.8 billion grant, supporting over 1.33 million residents—a higher per capita participation in the food assistance program than any of the 50 states. With a population of 3.3 million in 1982 and 3.2 million today, there has been only a 9.6 percent reduction in total beneficiaries. Meanwhile, the expenditure per participant has more than quadrupled, rising from $488 to $2,117.