The food stamp program, run by the USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) is now referred to officially as SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program). The food products are now purchased with an electronic debit card known as an EBT (Electronic Benefit Transfer). However, the old name stuck and the benefits received are still commonly called “food stamps”.
According to the USDA, in fiscal 2011 a record 44.7 million U.S. residents received food stamps, at a cost of 75.3 billion dollars. The number one SNAP-receiving state was Rick Perry’s Texas, followed by California and then Florida. By June of 2012 , the figure was at about 46.4 million.
About a seventh of the U.S. resident U.S. population is now on food stamps, but to the federal government that’s not enough. There are still folks who are eligible for the program who but aren’t collecting, so the feds are trying to convince more people to apply for SNAP.
The majority of food stamp recipients are not Hispanics. But, the government would like to get more Hispanics on the program. The USDA even has a page on its website entitled “Reaching Low-Income Hispanics With Nutrition Assistance”.
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Article published on VDARE.COM, on August 9th, 2012.
Tags: Welfare State