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Whopping 46,681,833 U.S. households now on Food Stamps

USDA has acted upon an aggressive Food Stamps outreach program


President Barack Obama's critics have denounced him as the "Food Stamp president." Whatever the case, Food Stamp enrollment is at an all-time high in the United States. At last count, there are 46,681,833 are now enrolled in the social welfare program. These figures are courtesy of the United States Department of Agriculture, the federal department that runs the program.

The Food Stamp program provides nutritional assistance benefits to children and families, the elderly, the disabled, unemployed and working families. Food stamp benefits are issued and accessed electronically using a Benefit Security Card or EBT Card.

The Food Stamp program provides nutritional assistance benefits to children and families, the elderly, the disabled, unemployed and working families. Food stamp benefits are issued and accessed electronically using a Benefit Security Card or EBT Card.

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - When President Obama took office, enrollment in the food stamps program was 31.98 million. Not even four years later, it's an enormous 46.48 million. This is a substantial gain from 2002, when 19.1 million Americans received food stamps.

The fresh data represents enrollment in July, which is the last month for which data is available. Assuming the program remained on its projected path, the number of those enrolled in food stamps is likely now larger by several hundreds of thousands.

"USDA has engaged in an aggressive outreach and promotional campaign to boost food stamp enrollment. Among these efforts are an ongoing partnership with the Mexican government to advertise food stamps to Mexican nationals, migrant workers, and non-citizen immigrants," the Republican side of the Senate Budget Committee says. "Partly as a result of these efforts, the number of non-citizens on food stamps has quadrupled since 2001," explains."

The cost, as expected, is astronomical. "Total spending on food stamps is projected to reach nearly $800 billion over the next 10 years, with no fewer than 1 in 9 people on the program at any given time. Neither food stamp participation nor spending on the program are ever projected to return to pre-recession levels at any point in the next 10 years."

The Food Stamp program provides nutritional assistance benefits to children and families, the elderly, the disabled, unemployed and working families. Food stamp benefits are issued and accessed electronically using a Benefit Security Card or EBT Card.

© 2012, Catholic Online. Distributed by NEWS CONSORTIUM.

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Keywords: Food Stamps, USDA, eligibility, President Obama

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1 - 4 of 4 Comments

  1. JoAnn
    6 months ago

    Cody: You are speaking about a country that is just about gone. There are people starving. There are over 23 million people out of work and on the government dole. This should never be. I have watched this man in the WH diminish this nation to the point that I don't know if we will ever recover. At least not until many years from now. Pray that God continues His mercy for us and gives us a reprieve and a new president. If He does not, it is time for the purging of His wayward children. He must get us to repent of our evil ways and return to Him. "For those days will be more filled with anguish than any from the beginning of the world until now or in all ages to come." Mt. 24:21 God bless.

  2. Cody Laws
    7 months ago

    I am happy to live in a country where I know people won't go hungry, and I am prepared to give some of my money to secure that privilege.

  3. Cathy Roberts
    7 months ago

    Umm ... I think your headline is mistaken

    There are 46.7 million PEOPLE (not households) getting SNAP benefits. That is an all-time high, but not the whopping 46.7 million HOUSEHOLDS cited in your headline. The number of HOUSEHOLDS receiving SNAP is actually 22,541,744.

  4. Taxed
    7 months ago

    I know people, not disabled, who have been in subsidized housing for over 30 years. Other people, also not disabled, who have been on food stamps for over 20 years. That is not the taxpayers "helping" them. That is them "putting it" to the taxpayers. Sooner or later somebody in government has to have brains enough to know the difference.

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