Mobile UPI  |   About UPI  |   UPI en Español  |   UPI Arabic  |   UPIU  |   My Account
Search:
Go

6 million list food stamps as only income

|
|
 
  
Published: Jan. 3, 2010 at 3:27 PM

WASHINGTON, Jan. 3 (UPI) -- About 6 million U.S. residents list government-issued food stamps as their only income, statistics indicate.

State data collected by The New York Times and published Sunday shows these Americans claim that food stamps are the only income they have -- they say they receive no welfare benefits, pensions, unemployment insurance, disability pay or child support.

The newspaper said the number of such people has soared by about 50 percent during the past two years as eligibility requirements for cash welfare payments have been tightened, and that about one in 50 Americans now live in households with a reported income consisting of nothing but food stamps.

The quick surge in such Americans has reportedly caught policymakers off guard. The Times said such food stamp recipients range from laid-off former executives to homeless people, and that they rely on food stamps to survive.

"We're at risk of creating an entire class of people, a subset of people, just comfortable getting by living off the government," U.S. Rep. John Linder, R-Ga., told the Times.

Recommended Stories
© 2010 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Any reproduction, republication, redistribution and/or modification of any UPI content is expressly prohibited without UPI's prior written consent.

Order reprints
  
Join the conversation
Most Popular Collections
The Tibetan Moniam Festival in China Super Bowl XLVI ticker tape victory parade The making of the Oscars
The Chicago Auto Show The Most Desirable Women of 2012 Tu Bishvat Migron settlement
Additional U.S. News Stories
1 of 21
President Obama Signs Smuggling Prevention Act at White House
View Caption
fark
All fifth graders who want to go see "Red Tails" please step forward. Whoa not so fast there girls...
If we timewarped back by 2000 years, what job would you be most qualified to do? No, you can't bring...
BAD: getting caught in a landslide while hiking. WORSE: getting struck by lightning while trying...
Weepy eyes, hot chix, Jersey Shore Ronnie and a guy with mini fishing reels stuck in his beard....
French roadbuilders find 21 German WWI soldiers...and 1 goat
Photoshop this crazy old coot in the cold