Abstract
Congress is considering ways to reduce spending on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) by $230 billion over ten years. Reforms are likely to include one or more of the following cost-saving elements: reducing the maximum SNAP benefit, reducing deductions, expanding work requirements, and ending broad based categorical eligibility. In this paper I analyze each of these reform elements individually, focusing on the consequences for the SNAP benefit schedule, targeting of benefits to low-income households, and work incentives. I then discuss implications for including these elements within broader SNAP reform proposals. As one example, I show how a combination of elements—expanding work requirements and eliminating the standard deduction and broad based categorical eligibility—can balance the goals of targeting and strengthening work incentives.