WSJ: Number of Americans on Food Stamps Continues to Rise

Tuesday, 05 Jul 2011 12:55 PM
By Forrest Jones

The number of Americans on food stamps rose by 0.1 percent in April from March, bringing the total number of people on the program to 44.5 million, according to the Department of Agriculture.

Enrollment may be slowing, but it is still growing, with 10.4 percent more people tapping benefits in April than in the same month a year earlier, The Wall Street Journal reports.

Mississippi, New Mexico and Oregon were home to the most recipients, where one in five were utilizing food stamp benefits.

Wyoming had the lowest rate of recipients, with just 6.5 percent of the state's residents on the program.

In 27 states, 1 in 7 residents rely on food stamps for nourishment.

The food stamps program, known formally as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, has come under criticism lately for providing benefits to people who don't need them.

Millionaires qualify for food stamps these days as long as they can show they have little or no income, according to author and lecturer James Bovard.

"The Obama administration is far more enthusiastic about boosting food-stamp enrollment than about preventing fraud," Bovard writes in a recent Wall Street Journal column.

Nebraska, meanwhile, leads the nation in denying food stamps to those who don't deserve it.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture says the state has a zero error rate when it comes to processing "denials, suspensions or termination of benefits for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) distribution," NebraskaStatePaper.com reports.

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