$75 Mil to “Better Recognize” Food Needs in Low-Income Communities

It’s not enough that the U.S. government is already spending record amounts of money to feed the masses with food stamps, the Obama administration is investing north of $75 million study ways of better recognizing the nutritional needs of low-income communities.

It’s as if the administration is obsessed with food. In some cases it argues that an epidemic of obesity requires the government to intervene and provide all children and low-income populations with healthier diets. In others, the administration cites its goal of conquering a hunger crisis by eradicating “food insecure” households.

Regardless, it’s costing American taxpayers a bundle. Michelle Obama got Congress to pass—and her husband to sign—a $4.5 billion law to conquer childhood obesity by asserting that it’s the government’s duty to protect poor and ethnic minority communities that are overwhelmingly obese compared to their wealthier, white counterparts. Under the measure Uncle Sam picks up the tab to provide low-income populations with healthy foods like fruits and vegetables.

On the other extreme is a hunger problem that creates what the administration has coined food insecurity. This requires the government to step in and feed tens of millions of people, some who can well afford to buy their own food. In fact, last summer a federal audit revealed that many who don’t qualify for food stamps receive them under Obama’s special “broad-based” eligibility program that disregards income and asset requirements.

As a result a record number of people—46 million and growing—get food stamps from the U.S. government. In fiscal year 2012 this costs taxpayers a record $80.4 billion, according to the government’s own figures. That’s a whopping $2.7 billion increase from the previous fiscal year! And that doesn’t even include other taxpayer-funded food programs for low-income populations like “Child Nutrition Programs” that received an additional $18.3 billion last year.

The insanity has been created by the First Couple and their mission to eradicate “food insecure households” in the U.S. To accomplish it, the administration has spent millions of dollars on ad campaigns to recruit more food-stamp recipients, even doling out hefty cash rewards to local governments that sign up the most people. One state even bragged about a $5 million performance bonus it got from the feds for its “swift processing of applications.”

Incredibly, this week the administration announced that it is spending more than $75 million on research that will help address food security challenges in the U.S. and globally. The money will go to 21 universities throughout the country that will “find solutions to increasing food availability and decreasing the number of food insecure individuals,” according to an announcement posted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).

“Millions of American households lack the resources to access sufficient food, and many of those, including our children, may go hungry at least once this year,” according to USDA Deputy Secretary Kathleen Merrigan.” She says the grants will help policymakers and others “better recognize the food and nutrition needs of low-income communities in our country.”