This is the Cato Daily Podcast for Wednesday, October 16th, 2013.

I'm Caleb Brown.

Snap, better known as Food Stamps, is a program in disarray. It doesn't target the poor and it's

rife with fraud. Cato Institute Senior Fellow Mike Tanner is author of the new Cato paper

Snap Failure. The food stamp program needs, available today at Cato.org.

Well, SNAP, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program,

is the program that used to be known as Food Stamps. And it is the program that used to be known as food stamps.

And it is the primary nutrition program

that the federal government has,

although they have some two dozen food assistance programs. Today it covers about 48 million Americans, about

one out of every six million Americans is on the program and the cost is just

under 80 billion dollars a year.

What is the argument about it right now?

Clearly Republicans want to cut it, but do they want to do anything substantive with the program?

Well, Food Stamp is a little bit unusual as a program.

It has some characteristics of an entitlement program and also it is an appropriation program.

It is usually authorized as part of the Farm Bill.

It's been this unholy alliance of Farm State Republicans and Urban Democrats

that get together every five years and expand the program.

And Farm Bill is up for reauthorization again. years and expand the program.

And Farm Bill is up for reauthorization again.

So they're debating the size of the program.

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