Sen. Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III:
SESSIONS: No program in our government has surged out of control more dramatically than food stamps. And nothing is being done about it. [...] Multimillion dollar lottery winners are getting food stamps because the money is considered to be an asset not an income. One of the fast and furious gun buyers –
HOST: But hold on, for ever lottery winner that has food stamps, there’s probably a lot more people who really need them who have them, right?
SESSIONS: Well look, do you think there are four times as many people who need food stamps today as in 2001. That answers itself.
I know that was a rhetorical question, but I'm going to answer it anyway, with a headline from September 2001: "U.S. unemployment jumps." Yep, unemployment had jumped to an alarming four-year high—of 4.9 percent. Compare that to the 9.1 percent unemployment we have now. Labor force participation was also higher in 2001. There was alarm in 2001 because unemployment rates had reached a level that right now seems like a lurid fantasy.
So, do I think there are a hell of a lot more people in the United States right now who need food stamps than did in 2001? Yes. Yes. Yes.
The food stamp program is designed to expand when the economy goes downhill and people need the help. The percentage of households receiving food stamps that had no cash income rose to 20 percent in 2010. Nearly 50 percent of people receiving food stamps are children (PDF); another 8 percent are elderly. More people are receiving food stamps right now because more people are desperate. Because there are more people for whom that average monthly benefit of $287 was what kept them from going hungry.
Food stamps have "surged dramatically out of control" because the need for food stamps has surged dramatically out of control because the economy sucks and people are out of work and Republicans like Jeff Sessions are not only not doing a damn thing about it, they're trying to make it worse because they think that will help them defeat President Obama. So, Sen. Sessions, if you want to get food stamp expenditures under control, pass legislation to put people back to work.