The number of food-stamp recipients has skyrocketed in the last few
years yet the Obama Administration keeps wasting millions of taxpayer
dollars to recruit more participants in the name of eradicating “food
insecure households.”The latest publicly-financed campaign to boost the
food-stamp rolls—officially known as Supplemental Nutrition Assistance
Program or SNAP—was announced this month by the U.S. Department of
Agriculture, the agency that administers it. The USDA is dedicating $5 million this
year to “improve access to and increase participation in the
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.”The money will go to state
and local governments as well as “private non-profit organizations” so
they can develop projects that “simplify SNAP application and
eligibility systems.” Officially, the USDA is referring to the multi
million-dollar plan as “process improvement efforts” that can simplify
the application process and raise the amount of beneficiaries from the
current 44 million who already get the handouts.Those who may oppose
this sort of government expenditure amid a record $14 trillion deficit
should first consider the words of Obama’s Agriculture Secretary, Tom
Vilsack. He claims that increasing the number of food-stamp recipients
actually helps the economy, strengthens communities and creates jobs.
The USDA even cites some unknown “research” that shows every $5 in new
food-stamp benefits actually generates as much as $9 in economic
activity. The source of the research was not cited in the USDA press release announcing
the $5 million investment to expand the program.Last fall the
government financed a separate campaign to reduce the “stigma”
associated with food stamps by “rebranding” the name of the decades-old
welfare benefit to encourage more people to apply. Colorful brochures
sporting a new logo (Better Food For Better Living)
were printed and distributed amid government figures that the number of
food-stamp recipients had increased by 50% in three years.
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