U.S. Spent Record $80.4 Bil on Food Stamps in 2012

The Obama Administration is proudly shattering welfare records with an astonishing number of people collecting public benefits long term, especially food stamps.

Judicial Watch has reported in the past how out of control the government’s food stamp program has gotten under President Obama and the fraud and corruption that’s plagued it. How bad is it? A few months ago a U.S. Senator, who sits on the Senate Budget Committee, demanded an end to the madness which includes a partnership with Mexican consulates to encourage foreign nationals, migrant workers and non-citizen immigrants to apply for food stamps.

The program has exploded with a record number of people—46 million and growing—getting free groceries from Uncle Sam. Adding insult to injury, a federal audit revealed last year that many who don’t qualify for food stamps receive them under a special “broad-based” eligibility program that disregards income and asset requirements. This is sticking American taxpayers with a multi-million-dollar tab to feed hundreds of thousands of people who can well afford to feed themselves.

As 2013 gets rolling, the government reveals this month that in fiscal year 2012 it spent a record $80.4 billion on food stamps. That’s a whopping $2.7 billion increase from the previous fiscal year! This 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.

This insanity has been created by the president and his 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.”

As a result federal spending on food stamps has increased every year under Obama, according to government figures. In 2009 the tab was $55.6 billion and by 2010 it skyrocketed to around $70.5 billion. Out-of-control government programs like this are always vulnerable to fraud and corruption and we’ve already seen evidence that it has struck this one, which is managed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).

Last spring the USDA Inspector General revealed that many food-stamp recipients use their welfare benefit to buy drugs, weapons and other contraband from unscrupulous vendors. Some trade food stamps for reduced amounts of cash. The fraud has cost taxpayers nearly $200 million, according to the USDA watchdog, which provided various examples during testimony before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.