Under Farm Bill, Projected Food Stamp Spending Remains More Than Double Pre-Recession Levels‏

May 23, 2013

For Immediate Release

Contact:  Stephen Miller,

               Andrew Logan: 202.228.0575

There are nearly 80 means-tested federal welfare programs and, according to the Census Bureau, nearly 110 million people in the United States receive benefits from at least one of them that collectively cost taxpayers $1 trillion annually. Converted to cash, that would be enough to mail $60,000 to each household living underneath the poverty line.

Among these welfare programs, the SNAP program, commonly known as food stamps, is the second largest. Today, 1 in 5 households has at least one member enrolled in SNAP. Total spending on food stamps is projected to be $760 billion over the next 10 years. By contrast, over the 2003-2012 period we spent less than $480 billion on food stamps. Food stamp spending has more than doubled since the President took office, and quadrupled since 2001.

Helping to explain this staggering increase, the Administration uses promotional campaigns to surge the number of people on food stamps. USDA goes so far as to advertise food stamps as a form of economic stimulus, asserting that “Each $5 dollars in new SNAP benefits generates almost twice that amount in economic activity for the community… Everyone wins when eligible people take advantage of benefits to which they are entitled.” In a ‘radio novela’ USDA even depicted an individual who resisted food stamp enrollment (saying her husband earned enough to take care of them) but who was successfully pressured into enrollment.

USDA also instructs food stamp administrators and volunteers on “how to overcome the word ‘no’”, and has given a “Gold” award to a social services department for overcoming the “mountain pride” of individuals in rural North Carolina.