As Republican opponents of government spending on nutrition assistance have railed and fussed in recent years about the rising number of people getting food stamps, opponents of hunger have pointed out that that's how the program is supposed to work: when the economy is bad, more people need help, and they get it. But when the economy improves and people go back to work, get more hours of work, or get raises, fewer people need help, and so they stop getting it. It's not that difficult of a concept, but Republicans used the spike in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program participation to argue for cuts, pretending that people were gaming the system rather than struggling in a crappy economy.
Well, guess what. As predicted by responsible analysts, food stamp expenditures fell in 2014 as a share of the gross domestic product. Part of that was due to the expiration of temporary benefits increases under the 2009 stimulus bill, but there was also this:
The number of SNAP participants has started to fall. SNAP caseloads grew significantly between 2007 and 2011 as the recession and lagging economic recovery led more low-income households to qualify and apply for help. SNAP caseload growth slowed substantially in 2012 and 2013, however, and caseloads fell by about 2 percent in fiscal year 2014.
Don't expect this to put a dent in Republican efforts to stigmatize people who do need nutrition assistance, though—even as Republicans block a minimum wage increase that would let many workers earn enough to not need food stamps anymore.