Democrat Senate Votes Down Modest Food Stamp Reforms
20th June 2012
Under the Obama administration, spending on food stamps has skyrocketed, as an astonishing 46 million Americans, one-seventh of the population, are now on the program.
The Food Stamp President indeed. ‘What are you here for?’ ‘Money!’ ‘What money?’ ‘Obama money!’
So Senator Jeff Sessions tried to introduce a minimal amount of fiscal discipline into the food stamp program by offering amendments that incorporated two basic reforms: 1) preventing states from waiving federal eligibility requirements for the program, and 2) eliminating the bonuses that the federal government now pays to states that deliberately swell the ranks of food stamp recipients. Given that the federal government pays 100% of the program’s cost, such bonuses create perverse incentives in the states, with predictable consequences. And at least 28 states have no limit whatsoever on the financial assets a household can have, and still qualify for food stamps.
Tax and tax, spend and spend, elect and elect….