Alan Bjerga
Food-stamp use reached a record 46.7 million people in June,
the government said, as Democrats prepare to nominate President Barack Obama
for a second term with the economy as a chief issue in the campaign.
Participation was up 0.4 percent from May and 3.3 percent
higher than a year earlier and has remained greater than 46 million all year as
the unemployment rate stayed higher than 8 percent. New jobless numbers will be
released Sept. 7.
“Too many middle-class families who have fallen on hard times
are still struggling,” Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said in an e-mailed
statement today. “Our goal is to get these families the temporary assistance they
need so they are able to get through these tough times and back on their feet
as soon as possible.”
Food-stamp spending, which more than doubled in four years to
a record $75.7 billion in the fiscal year ended Sept. 30, 2011, is the U.S.
Department of Agriculture’s biggest annual expense. Republicans in Congress
have criticized the cost of the program, and the House budget plan approved in
April sponsored by Representative Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, the party’s vice-
presidential nominee, would cut expenses by $33 billion over 10 years.
Cuts Planned
“We need a new direction,” Amanda Henneberg, a spokeswoman
for Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney, said in an e-mail. “Democrats
are desperately trying to convince voters that they are better off than they
were four years ago. But the opposite is true,” as evidenced by the food- stamp
numbers, she said.
Reductions to the program have also emerged as a point of
contention in debate over a farm bill to replace current law that expires Sept.
30. The U.S. Senate in June passed a plan that would lower expenditures by $4
billion over 10 years, while the House Agriculture Committee the following
month backed a $16 billion cut.
During the Republican primary campaign, then-candidate Newt
Gingrich labeled Obama as “the best food-stamp president in American history.”
When the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People called his
statements “inaccurate” and “divisive,” Gingrich dismissed the complaints as a
smear from “modern liberals” who are “off the deep end.”
Food-stamp enrollment is rising partly because the USDA is
pushing higher participation too aggressively, giving government money to
people who may not need or want it, U.S. Senator Jeff Sessions said in a
telephone interview.
‘Government Incompetence’
“This administration has been hawking food stamps,” said the
Alabama Republican, who has called for lower spending on the program. “Every
additional dollar in this program is borrowed money,” he said. “It’s one more
example of government incompetence.”
Today’s report shows the two most populous states, California
and Texas, had the most recipients. California was tops with 4.012 million, a
0.8 percent gain from the previous month and 7.3 percent more than the previous
year. Texas was in second place, while down 0.4 percent from the previous month
and 1.4 percent lower than a year earlier.
Louisiana and North Carolina, where Democrats are meeting
this week to nominate Obama, had the biggest monthly gains in enrollment, 1.3
percent. Enrollment fell the most in Utah, down 1.4 percent from May, followed
by Idaho and Ohio.
Spending on what’s officially called the Supplemental
Nutrition Assistance Program totaled $6.21 billion in June, 0.4 percent higher
than the previous month and 2.8 percent more than a year earlier. The record is
$6.26 billion spent in September 2011.
About 47 percent of recipients are children, and 8 percent
are elderly, according to the USDA. About half of all new recipients leave the
program within 10 months.
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