What does it mean when one in seven people in the U.S. gets food stamps?
FROM CNN's Jack Cafferty:
Forty-five million people – that's one in seven living in the United States – received food stamps last year.
That's a 70% increase from 2007, according to a shocking new report by the Congressional Budget Office.
It shows that in 2010, about three out of four food stamp households included a child, a person older than 60 or someone who is disabled.
Most households getting food stamps were very low income, only about $8,800 per year.
The average food stamp benefit per household was about $290 a month, which comes out to $4.30 per person per day.
The worst part is food stamp use is only expected to grow.
The CBO projects the number of people getting food stamps will rise slightly for the next two years, at which point it will start to drop, as long as the economy improves.
But we're still talking historic highs here. In 2022, it's estimated spending on food stamps will be among the highest of all nonhealth related federal programs for the poor.
Speaking of spending, it follows that the cost of the food stamp program has skyrocketed along with the growing number of participants.
The cost rose from $30 billion in 2007 to $72 billion last year.
The CBO says about two-thirds of the cost increase is due to more people getting food stamps. But spending is also going up due to temporarily higher benefits from the stimulus law.
Tune in to the Situation Room at 4pm to see if Jack reads your answer on air.
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Is the Tea Party over?
FROM CNN's Jack Cafferty:
The party might be over - the Tea Party that is.
The movement that took the country - and Washington - by storm two years ago appears to be fading.
In the early days of the Obama Administration, the Tea Party seemed to spring up almost overnight nationwide.
With thousands of dissatisfied Americans attending town hall meetings and protesting an outsized federal government, higher taxes, skyrocketing federal spending and Obamacare.
In the 2010 mid-term elections, candidates connected to the Tea Party helped the Republicans wrestle back control of the House of Representatives. They were a force to be reckoned with.
But fast forward two years and what's left?
For starters, the Republican Party is on the verge of nominating Mitt Romney. Not exactly a right wing zealot.
Politico reports that a meeting of the Republican National Command this past weekend shows just how little has actually changed within the GOP.
Few Tea Party activists have won slots on the Republican Party's governing committee, even though some have won county chairmanships or state positions.
And, although the Republican establishment sympathizes with the Tea Party's ideas and wants to channel their energy, they see the movement as just one more constituency in the Republican coalition.
Some Republicans describe the Tea Party activists as inexperienced, and the movement as not as well organized as 2010.
Nonetheless, even if the Tea Party is losing power, it's still seen as a boost for Republicans. One state party chairman says the Tea Party has "put a spring in the step of the old lumbering elephant."
Here’s my question to you: Is the Tea Party over?
Tune in to the Situation Room at 5pm to see if Jack reads your answer on air.
And, we love to know where you’re writing from, so please include your city and state with your comment.
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