Food Stamp Nation

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Front Page Magazine:

Despite a new Congressional Budget Office (CBO) report finding a record number of Americans receiving food stamps, the Obama administration is working overtime to enroll more people into a program increasingly rife with fraud and abuse

According to the CBO, a record 45 million Americans (one out of every seven people) are now receiving assistance from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), a 70 percent increase in participation since 2007.

 

While it should be noted that the Bush administration increased participation in the food stamp program by 63 percent during its eight years, enrolling nearly 11 million people, the Obama administration has taken that number to staggering new heights, enrolling nearly the same number of people in only three years.

Since 2007 spending on SNAP has also ballooned from $30 billion to $72 billion, an increase of 135 percent. Moreover, the CBO estimates that spending on the program will continue to increase to $82 billion by 2013.

Eligibility for SNAP, which is administered by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) but whose benefits are distributed by the states, necessitates that a person’s income must be near or at the national poverty level.