How to find (document) the actual costs of a specific US government social program?
http://www.fns.usda.gov/pd/supplemental-nutrition-assistance-program-snap - Participation and Costs is the first file in the list

Under the current rules, one problem with stopping activity reports is that all of the statistics you see there would be gone. Another more serious problem is that SNAP recipients are restricted from purchasing certain goods; it's not just that the SNAP card is only accepted at certain merchants.