6 Things The GOP Needs To Know About Food Stamps (VIDEO)


Mabel McFiggin was an unemployed factory worker in May of 1939. Living in poverty, she was struggling to feed her family. She was the first recipient of food assistance in the form of government-supplied “food stamps.” Mabel used her stamps to buy surplus butter, eggs and prunes.

Since that time, the provision of food assistance to families living in poverty has become yet another political football being kicked back and forth between the two dominant political parties. The GOP has a history of slashing, or trying to slash, the budget for Food Stamps (now called SNAP, or the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program).

RawStory posted an article explaining some of the things that the GOP has either forgotten, or is refusing to consider, in their war on the SNAP program.

1. Republican leaning states have the highest number of SNAP recipients.

The 7 states with the highest numbers of SNAP recipients are Louisiana, West Virginia, Tennessee, Oregon, New Mexico, Mississippi and DC (not an actual state, but still….). All except Oregon, New Mexico and DC voted Republican in 2012.

2. Food assistance helps the economy. 

Unlike the wealthy, when poor families have money, they spend it because they have no other choice! When families have food stamps, they use them to buy food. At local stores, which earn a profit. Those stores also employ local people to sell that food. A boon to the economy, no matter how you slice it.

3. SNAP benefits cannot be used to buy toilet paper, diapers and other items.    

Food assistance is for food. It can’t be used to buy soaps, detergents, tampons, any type of paper products, lotions or shampoo. Most importantly, SNAP cannot be used to buy alcohol or cigarettes. It buys food.

4. You most likely know at least one person who has used SNAP.    

Studies show that fully 50 percent of American adults between the ages of 20 and 65 will need SNAP benefits at some point in their lives.       

5.  Most adult recipients are either working or elderly.                                                        

Studies have shown that in poor families with children, a full 60 percent of recipients are working. And 90 percent worked in the year before receiving the benefits or the year after.

6. SNAP is a huge help to farmers and ranchers.

SNAP purchases consume what would otherwise be surplus food, boosting sales for food producers. Estimates are that for every billion dollars spent on SNAP, 3,300 farmers are able to keep farming. Added value to farms is estimated at $110 million every year.

So why does the GOP keep trying to cut the budget for this program? Kind of makes you wonder, doesn’t it?

For more about the GOP and SNAP, see the video below:

Featured image by Bruce Tuten via Flickr. Available through Creative Commons license 2.0

Karen is a retired elementary school teacher with many years of progressive activism behind her. She is the proud mother of three young adults who were all arrested with Occupy Wall Street. To see what she writes about in her spare time, check out her blog at "Empty Nest, Full Life"