Food stamps a necessary lifeline

[웃 910]

Food stamps a necessary lifeline

(CNN) -- In their attacks on the food stamp program, some Republican presidential candidates are leaving a deeply misleading impression of the nation's leading anti-hunger program. No one aspires to enroll, but for those who must, it is an essential lifeline that addresses one of the harshest impacts of poverty and unemployment -- hunger.

The food stamp program, now officially known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), provides about

46 million Americans in about 22 million low-income households with debit cards to buy food each month. Participants include families with adults who work in low-wage jobs, unemployed workers and people on fixed incomes, such as Social Security. About three-fourths of SNAP recipients live in households with children; more than one-quarter live in households with seniors or people with disabilities.

SNAP reduces poverty while providing people with much-needed help to buy food. The program kept more than 5 million people out of poverty in 2010 and lessened the severity of poverty for millions of others, under a measure of poverty that counts SNAP benefits as income.

SNAP is also highly efficient, with one of the most rigorous quality control systems of any public benefit program. In 2010, only

3 percent of payments went to ineligible households or to eligible households in excessive amounts. Payment accuracy has been improving in the past few years, despite a large increase in SNAP enrollment.

While some have attributed that enrollment increase to Obama administration policies -- Newt Gingrich has termed President Barack Obama the "food stamp president" -- in reality it has two main causes that have little to do with this administration.

Millions of people hit by the recession a few years ago became eligible for SNAP. Today's large SNAP caseloads mostly reflect the extraordinarily deep and prolonged recession and the weak recovery that has followed. Long-term unemployment hit record levels in 2010 and has remained extremely high. Today, 43% of all unemployed workers have been out of work for more than half a year; the previous post-World War II high was 26% in 1983.

Workers who are unemployed for a long time are more likely to deplete their assets, exhaust unemployment insurance and turn to SNAP for help. It is one of the few safety net programs available to them. In most states, other programs -- such as cash assistance under the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families and state General Assistance programs -- have not responded effectively to the rising need brought on by the economy.

More than one in five workers who had been unemployed for over six months received SNAP in 2010, according to Congress's Joint Economic Committee.

The increase in enrollment is also because it's easier for eligible families to participate. Federal and state officials as well as Congress, with leadership from both parties, have worked throughout the last decade to simplify SNAP procedures so that the program can reach more eligible households, particularly working families and senior citizens. These efforts are paying off: The share of eligible individuals who participated in SNAP rose from 65% in 2007 to 72% in 2009, the most recent year for which we have the data.

The recent growth in SNAP enrollment and spending because of the sluggish economy is temporary. One of SNAP's great strengths is its ability to respond, quickly and automatically, to changes in the economy: Enrollment grows during downturns but contracts during periods of economic growth.

The Congressional Budget Office predicts that SNAP spending will fall in the coming years as the economy recovers more robustly and the temporary benefit increases of the 2009 Recovery Act expire. By 2021, SNAP is expected to return nearly to pre-recession levels as a share of the economy.

Over the long term, SNAP is not growing faster than the economy. So it is not contributing to the nation's long-term fiscal problems.

A weak economy has swelled the numbers of unemployed workers and poor families. That's a serious problem that our policymakers need to address. In the meantime, SNAP helps protect the most vulnerable from very difficult circumstances.

http://www.cnn.com/2012/01/19/opinion/dean-food-stamp-program/index.html?hpt=op_t1

[slim 1,514]

No one aspires to enroll is a damm lie. I know a bunch of people who can't wait to get their checks.

[Deputy Purple 1,294]

Food Stamps and other Welfare programs are nothing more than life-support for the illegal immigrant workforce:

1) It keeps too many US Citizens comfortable enough that they aren't properly motivated to get a job (any job).

2) It's too easy for illegals to get the benefits and many of them do (for years) so they can send the lion's share of their income out of the country.

3) It has created a welfare society and spawned the Welfare Class where kids grow-up thinking living off welfare is acceptable so they follow their parents' example and become second, third and even fourth generation professional welfare households.

[Harsh_77 716]

First line of the article is mis-leading….. that is like a ideal society where everyone just wants to get the fair share of things in life.

I know ppl who do not want to work, just want free stuff handed down to them.

Check news 2-3 days old news from Florida, where a convince store owner was selling alcohol and stuff not allowed on food stamps to ppl with food stamps.

Alcohol and Cigarettes necessary lifeline?

[Leatherneck 693]

When did this name change take place?

From Welfare/AFDIC (Aid to Families with Dependent Children) to SNAP. Guess that sounds better to libs.

I might be wrong (too lazy to research this) but I have a strong hunch that it was

a bunch of liberal politicians and bureaucrats that did not want people using that program to "feel stigmatized."

They can call it whatever they want, still just another form of "government crack" and a way to keep people

tied to a certain political party to ensure they get that vote.

[웃 910]

No one aspires to enroll is a damm lie. I know a bunch of people who can't wait to get their checks.

Edited January 26, 2012 by ☠

[Deputy Purple 1,294]

I say if they really need food to avoid hunger then they can be issued a bi-weekly ration of Government Cheese, Rice, Beans, Canned Meat and Milk. Never give them anything that can be used for money.

If they want to eat better than that they can find a job, I hear there are a lot of openings in Alabama!

[Leatherneck 693]

I say if they really need food to avoid hunger then they can be issued a bi-weekly ration of Government Cheese, Rice, Beans, Canned Meat and Milk. Never give them anything that can be used for money.

If they want to eat better than that they can find a job, I hear there are a lot of openings in Alabama!

You STOP IT Bob!!! That sounds too much like common sense.

Besides you are a racist if you think people should work, how dare you!

Welfare, has got to be one of the worst concepts ever from the minds of "do-gooders."

It literally sucked the will out of perfectly capable generations of Americans, especially those

that were allowed to sit on that program for decades.

[skiptex 225]

my truck broke down the other day.. and a friend was going to let me borrow her ESCALADE.. but i didn't want anybody to think i was on WELFARE

[Leatherneck 693]

my truck broke down the other day.. and a friend was going to let me borrow her ESCALADE.. but i didn't want anybody to think i was on WELFARE

Well, it is a Cadillac which is synonymous with welfare cheats. Unless you live in Glendale, California where the welfare cheats there drive BMW and Mercedes.

[mawilson 2,133]

A necessary "lifeline" for 46 million Americans? Riiiiiiight.

[Stu4Lee 66]

Food Stamps and other Welfare programs are nothing more than life-support for the illegal immigrant workforce:

1) It keeps too many US Citizens comfortable enough that they aren't properly motivated to get a job (any job).

2) It's too easy for illegals to get the benefits and many of them do (for years) so they can send the lion's share of their income out of the country.

3) It has created a welfare society and spawned the Welfare Class where kids grow-up thinking living off welfare is acceptable so they follow their parents' example and become second, third and even fourth generation professional welfare households.

A familiar tale in "broken Britain"

[Deputy Purple 1,294]

A familiar tale in "broken Britain"

I guess the more the colonies across the pond want to be different the more we're actually the same!

[lostinblue 1,989]

How about instead of 200 dollar tennis shoes for the family you grow a garden and keep a years supply of food in the house for when hard times hit.Maybe they can eat their wide screen tv.

[Usui Takumi 1,562]

To summarize this thread:

Government creates program to help people, then.....

a percentage of people take advantage of the program in a fraudulent way, so....

lets just cancel the program all together.

This has been an example of VJ logic.