The USDA claims that eligible people who do not participate [in Food Stamps] are actually harming their communities by preventing additional funds from entering their respective economies.

“[Food Stamps] is an investment in our future. It offers nutrition benefits to participating clients, supports work, and provides economic benefits to communities,” USDA explains on one of its outreach pages. “However, too many low-income people who are eligible for the program do not participate and thus forgo nutrition assistance that could stretch their food dollars at the grocery store. Their communities lose out on the benefits provided by new [Food Stamp] dollars flowing into local economies.”

The USDA also claims increasing food stamp participation is an economic stimulus.

“If the national participation rate rose 5 percentage points, 1.9 million more low-income people would have an additional $1.3 billion in benefits per year to use to purchase healthy food and $2.5 billion total in new economic activity would be generated nationwide."

[link to dailycaller.com]