Despite any economic gains that former President Barack Obama wants to tout from his presidency, it’s undeniable that he was the “food stamp president.” In 2009, 33,490,000 people received food stamp benefits, but by October 2016, that figure skyrocketed to 44,219,123 people receiving benefits, an increase of about 10,729,000. That’s an increase far out of proportion from what we’d normally expect with natural population increase. The cost of the program to taxpayers rose from $50.3 billion to $66.6 billion.
But there’s good news. The number of people on foot stamps is among the many disastrous aspects of Obama’s legacy that’s already being undone.
According to the Daily Wire, “new statistics from the U.S. Department of Agriculture show nearly 1.5 million Americans have gotten off the food stamp rolls since President Trump took office in January 2017. That’s a 3.5% drop in less than a year.”
Trump has expressed interest on multiple occasions in returning to a “workfare” system for benefits, whereas able-bodied recipients must be either working or looking for work.
States that have done so have already seen an improvement in their budgets. Welfare recipients have also benefited. For states that have re-implemented work requirements to receive food stamps, their corresponding decreases in the percentage of their able-bodied residents on the dole are as follows: -85% in Alabama, -58% in Georgia, -75% in Maine, among others.
And after tax reform, welfare reform is next on the President’s agenda. According to ABC News, “Trump wants to put his stamp on the welfare system, apparently in favor of a more restrictive policy. He says ‘people are taking advantage of the system.'”
More from the report: “Spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said more specifics were likely early next year. But the groundwork has already begun at the White House and Trump has made his interest known to Republican lawmakers. Paul Winfree, director of budget policy and deputy director of Trump’s Domestic Policy Council, told a recent gathering at the conservative Heritage Foundation that he and another staffer had been charged with ‘working on a major welfare reform proposal.’ He said they have drafted an executive order on the topic that would outline administration principles and direct agencies to come up with recommendations.”
What do you think? Isn’t change long overdue?
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