Rural Americans Are Now The Largest Slice Of Federal Food Aid Recipients

[workinclasszero]

By PEGGY LOWE • NOV 16, 2018

More than 38,000 people in this congressional district receive assistance from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, what used to be called food stamps. Most are white and 40 percent live under the poverty level.

Since the late 1970s, congressional leaders have placed food programs in the farm bill to attract votes from cities, where food stamp use was highest. The hope was that rural and urban lawmakers would come together to get the big bill passed.

But the SNAP map has shifted. U.S. Department of Agriculture data shows that since 2012, SNAP participation is highest among households in rural areas and small towns under 2,500 people.

FRAC analyzed the USDA data and found that nationally, 16 percent of households in rural areas use SNAP versus 13 percent in urban areas. The population of older people is larger in rural areas, which Vollinger said is driving the increase.

The revenue that federal food aid provides for grocery stores is also helping fuel small town economies, Procter said, providing work for the electricians, carpenters and refrigerator repairers the groceries use.

USDA data shows that every dollar spent in SNAP generates up to $1.80 in economic activity in that area.

The other big winner from SNAP dollars: chain stores that cater to rural areas, like Dollar General. The USDA reports that in 2017, big-box stores like Walmart took in more than half of the $63 billion set aside for SNAP.

http://www.iowapublicradio.org/post/rural-americans-are-now-largest-slice-federal-food-aid-recipients#stream/0

[beachbum bob]

1. Why GOP target urban minority snap recipients leaving mostly white rural ones

alone.

[SummerSnow]

6. Cause they have the complexion for the protection

[XRubicon]

2. Elections have consequences.

[UniteFightBack]

3. I repeat this ALL THE TIME...to my right winger family and co workers...poor whites are on the

dole getting the free stuff ....it's them !!! They have NOTHING to say back. NOTHING. They are upset that it's not black people...they want it to be black/brown people.

[Garrett78]

4. And many, though not all, will continue to vote Republican.

Because economic conditions aren't the motivator, as much as some want to believe otherwise.

[workinclasszero]

7. This is what is maddening to me

They vote GOP who want to starve them and put them out in the street!

[Garrett78]

9. They are driven by racism and sexism.

And they are isolated. There's a surprisingly high percentage that never leave their community.

The notion that Democrats simply need to talk even more about economics and health care is naive, to put it nicely.

[workinclasszero]

10. Yeah that's true

Well lets see how much hate can fill their bellies when their nice white GOP congressman votes to cut them off at the knees by denying food assistance or attaching onerous work rules to get it.

[dalton99a]

5. "Most are white"

[violetpastille]

8. This is news Democrats can use.

I think SNAP should easier to qualify for. I think the qualifications are punitive as they stand.

And we must let the people in red states know that Voting Blue = Not Hungry.


https://www.cbpp.org/research/food-assistance/a-quick-guide-to-snap-eligibility-and-benefits

[Hermit-The-Prog]

11. nice ROI

Give $1; get $1.80. If the old Republican party wasn't extinct, they'd love this. Alas, Rotten Ronnie, Moonbase Newt, Atwater (still dead), Ailes, Stone, Murdoch, Kochs, et.al., murdered the old Republican party and donned its skin to dupe the masses.

[workinclasszero]

12. Yep St. Ronnie killed it

Imagine how the economy would explode if the fin GOP would have raised the minimum to 15 bucks an hour instead of giving it to the rich.

We would be spending all those dollars on goods and services not stock buybacks!

[Hermit-The-Prog]

13. welfare for billionaires only works for GOP

It's amazing to see so many non-billionaires vote to give more to billionaires, even as they rant and rave about SNAP, homeless, Medicare, and immigrants. The propaganda machines work.

[roamer65]

14. Too bad we couldn't stop the SNAP benefits for Dump lovers.

[Wellstone ruled]

15. Thanks for posting this story.

As someone who has seen this and screamed about it for more than thirty years,I do hope there will be some legislation coming to address the causes and fixes for the Poverty of Rural America.

We usually spend summers in western Minny near a County Seat Town. Which means one gets to know the locals and see first hand what the real truth who uses SNAP and other anti poverty programs.

Had a heated discussion with a owner of a local Super Market about the use of EBT and SNAP as well as WIC programs. He being a hard core local Republican Party Official,went into his bitch mode about the certain people should not have access to these programs. Just knew he would go anti Hispanic and Others comments. While we were having our back and forth in his Office,we could see everything going on in the Store via the Video Surveillance,and on one screen was the Cashiers. Within 30 minutes,of the twenty or so Customers who checked out,more than half use EBT or WIC cards,and they were all White Folks . Talk about a Store Owner sputtering when I had him go back and rerun the Video to prove my point. Facts do not lie my friends. BTW,we do keep in touch,he has since apologized for not seeing the real truth and if it was not for those anti Poverty Programs,he might as well close the doors.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

16. Sad that they have such a culture of relying on the government. Where are their leaders???

[Hermit-The-Prog]

17. anybody have numbers on corporate welfare?

I know there are lots of government subsidies for movie, oil, etc. but I can't find a break-down for typical taxpayer's taxes going to various things.