Breitbart: More People on Food Stamps Than Populations of 24 States Combined

Leah Barkoukis | November 24, 2012 8:42 AM

Under President Obama the participation rate in the food stamp program has skyrocketed—one in seven Americans now receives food stamps. To keep up with the demands of the burgeoning program, spending has thus “

doubled from roughly $39 billion in 2008 to an estimated $85 billion in 2012,” and nearly quadrupled since 2000. According to Heritage, “Today, the food stamps program is one of the largest and the fastest growing of the roughly 80 welfare programs funded by the federal government.” With that said, brace yourself for Breitbart’s findings: “The number of individuals on food stamps now exceeds the combined populations of 24 states and the District of Columbia.” Wow.

In November, the U.S. Department of Agriculture reported that a record 47,102,780individuals receive food stamps.

According to US. Census Bureau data, that figure exceeds the combined populations of: Alaska, Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, West Virginia, and Wyoming.

Since January 2009, the number of individuals on food stamps has skyrocketed from 31.9 million to the current record high 47.1 million. By comparison, in 1969 just 2.8 million Americans received food stamps.

Also benefiting from the rapid rise in food stamps are companies like JP Morgan who administer Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) cards. A recent report by the Government Accountability Institute found that since 2004, JP Morgan's 24 state EBT contracts have totaled at least $560,492,596.02.

Last year, the food stamp program (officially known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program or SNAP) cost taxpayers $72 billion, more than double the $30 billion spent four years ago.

The meteoric rise in the number of individuals receiving food stamps has spawned a thriving illegal online market for those seeking to turn their benefits into cash.