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FOOD STAMP NATION: 45 MILLION FOR 51 MONTHS

SNAP program's beneficiaries exceed Canada's population

Douglas Ernst

America has a perpetual population of food-stamp beneficiaries greater than the number of Canadian citizens.

New data released by the Department of Agriculture Oct. 9 shows the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, with enrollment exceeding 45 million for 51 straight months. The population of Canada: 34,834,841.

“Between 2007 and 2011, new eligibility rules by themselves added 3.4 million people to SNAP enrollment and naturally tended to increase SNAP spending. At the same time, SNAP began to pay more generous benefits to people who enrolled,” Casey Mulligan, an economics professor at the University of Chicago, told the Washington Free Beacon on Thursday.

The growing SNAP population is a far cry from the 2.8 million enrolled when the USDA began tracking such programs in 1969, the website reported.

The average SNAP-approved household received $256.62 in July 2015. USDA estimated a total cost to U.S. taxpayers of $5.8 billion for the month.

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“The new formulas would have increased SNAP spending more than 25 percent even without any new enrollment,” Mulligan added. “Combined, the spending impact of enrollment and benefit rules is remarkable.”

The Free Beacon reported SNAP’s enrollment first exceeding 45 million in May 2011. It reached a high of 47,790,000 in December

Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2015/10/food-stamp-nation-45-million-for-51-months/#JZ3vGLFXfjOdMGbr.99