not allow Congress to reduce the amount of SNAP benefits that people will receive in 2013 or at any other time.

Food stamps have been around since 1939. It temporarily ended in 1943 and was then revived by Congress in 1959. In 1964, President Lyndon Johnson passed the Food Stamp Act and made it a permanent program to be operated through the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). The program is now called the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), but its purpose remains the same, to help the poor buy food.--Article from The Low Income Housing & Social Issues Blog, February 18, 2013.