Congress to Consider Reforms of Food Stamp Eligibility LIBRE'S Garza: Time to Promote Economic Opportunity

For Immediate Release

August 12, 2013

Media Contact: Judy Pino, 202-578-6424 or Brian Faughnan, 571-257-3309

Congress to Consider Reforms of Food Stamp Eligibility

LIBRE'S Garza: Time to Promote Economic Opportunity

(Washington, D.C.) - With a slow economy, growing government dependence, and a federal deficit still in the hundreds of billions of dollars per year, the House of Representatives may soon consider legislation to reform eligibility rules for the rapidly-growing Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP or Food Stamps). The bill would reportedly end waivers allowing able-bodied adults without dependents to get food stamps for more than three months. It would allow states to exempt 15 percent of those currently on the rolls from this reform.

The intent is to promote economic opportunity, provide temporary assistance that would encourage participants to get out of poverty, and reduce out of control federal spending.

Daniel Garza, Executive Director of The LIBRE Initiative, released the following statement:

"When President Obama came into office, 32 million Americans received Food Stamps. If the economy were growing as it should, that number would fall as more Americans found work and were able to support themselves. Instead it has grown to 48 million overall. This is a serious problem. No one is helped when millions are unable to find work, and become wards of the taxpayers.

When the modern Food Stamp program was created in the 1970s, one in 50 Americans participated. Now the number is one in six. The millions of Americans who are unemployed or underemployed don't need another check from the government. They need jobs that allow them to earn a wage, to develop valuable skills, and to support their families. Congress should focus on ending a system that measures compassion based on how many people receive government assistance, rather than by how many no longer need it."