Food Stamp Recipients Increased 11,133 Per Day in Obama’s First Term

Posted on 22 January, 2013 by Amy

by Warner Todd Huston
One way to mark the legacy of a presidency is to tally statistics, and at least one stat is not very flattering for President Obama: the number of Americans on food stamps has grown by 11,133 people every day during his first term.
In 2009, when Obama took office, recipients of SNAP (Supplemental Assistance Nutrition Program) stood at 31,939,110 Americans; by the end of his first term, the latest tally numbered 47,525,329.
That is an expansion of 11,133 people per day between January of 2009 and October of 2012.
The Congressional Budget office reports that SNAP enrollment increased 70 percent during that period, with the food stamp budget growing by $2.7 billion over fiscal year 2011.
Also, it is reported that “SNAP has increased every fiscal year that Obama has been in office. In FY 2009–when SNAP was still known as the ‘Food Stamp’ program–the government spent $55.6 billion.”
Then there is the continued flat jobs market, made worse by millions of Americans that have just given up looking for work.
As the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports, “The number of Americans age 16 or older who decided not to work or even to seek a job increased by 8,332,000 to a record 88,839,000 in President Barack Obama’s first term.”