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With 50 Million Americans in Poverty, David Vitter Proposes Gutting Food Stamp Program
Think Progress / News Analysis
Published: Tuesday 22 November 2011
“Sen. David Vitter, R-La., joined last week with three other conservative GOP senators to propose caps on means-tested federal social welfare programs.”
A record number of Americans have fallen into poverty since the financial crisis sparked a deep recession in 2008, but that hasn’t stopped House and Senate Republicans from targeting the poor on their crusade to slash federal spending. In September, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul (R) declared that “the poor are getting richer even faster” than the rich while relying on government programs, even as the number of children and senior citizens living in poverty has increased to record levels.
One of Paul’s fellow Republicans, Louisiana Sen. David Vitter (R), is now joining that fight, invoking the failed welfare reform policies of the 1990s in calling for a federal cap on food stamps and other forms of welfare, vital programs for millions of impoverished families that grew even more necessary during the recession. Under Vitter and three other senators’ plan, the New Orleans Times-Picayune reports, food stamps would be capped at pre-2007 levels:
Sen. David Vitter, R-La., joined last week with three other conservative GOP senators to propose caps on means-tested federal social welfare programs. It would require that funding for food stamps and 76 other federal welfare programs be capped at pre-2007 levels by 2015 or when unemployment falls below 7.5 percent, whichever comes sooner. [...]
“One of the most significant substantive accomplishments coming out of the 1994 Republican takeover of Congress was welfare reform,” Vitter said. “But as significant as this reform was, we are overdue to renew welfare reform efforts and make additional gains because the welfare state has grown enormously since then — even factoring our recession.”
What Vitter doesn’t note, however, is that welfare reform was a massive failure, reducing America’s ability to aid its poorest and neediest citizens. In 1995, the old welfare system reached 75 percent of those living in poverty, but during the depths of the recession, the “reformed” welfare program reached less than a third. Food stamps, which were not included in those reforms, increased by 57 percent in 2009 as more Americans were plunged into poverty.
This isn’t the first time the GOP has targeted food stamps this year, nor are food stamps the only social welfare program to face the Republican axe. The House Republican budget cut funding for nutrition assistance programs and other programs that help women, infants, and children. The GOP has made extending unemployment benefits a chore, even as it endlessly protects massive tax breaks for corporations and the wealthy.
There are nearly 50 million people living in poverty, 15.7 million of whom are children, and without social welfare programs like food stamps, American poverty would be even worse. In 2010, 28.6 percent of Americans would have lived in poverty without social welfare programs, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. Unfortunately, the Republican answer to that problem has been to propose raising taxes on the poorest Americans while simultaneously cutting the programs that are most vital to them.
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ABOUT Travis Waldron
Travis Waldron is a reporter/blogger for ThinkProgress.org at the Center for American Progress Action Fund. Travis grew up in Louisville, Kentucky, and holds a BA in journalism and political science from the University of Kentucky. Before coming to ThinkProgress, he worked as a press aide at the Health Information Center and as a staffer on Kentucky Attorney General Jack Conway’s 2010 Senate campaign. He also interned at National Journal’s Hotline and was a sports writer and political columnist at the Kentucky Kernel, the University of Kentucky’s daily student newspaper.
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20 comments on "With 50 Million Americans in Poverty, David Vitter Proposes Gutting Food Stamp Program"
November 23, 2011 9:53pm
Down with the banks. Join a credit union.
November 23, 2011 12:54pm
One question: If we were to institute such a debt-free banking system,how would the banks make money to pay their own expenses and make a profit?Just wondering
November 22, 2011 10:20pm
AMEN!!!If only people would throw all of these republican and tea baggers out of office. That is the only option to save our great nation. If we keep putting them in office this country is headed toward a third world country. All of the money will be in the hands of the rich, and we will be delegated to working for peanuts. it will be like the coal mines in early 1900's when the miners got paid with company script. You pay rent to the mine owners and then spending the rest at a company store, so all of your pay goes to the mine owners. bThat is what we are headed for! Lord help us if the republicans get control of both chambers of congress and the president.
November 23, 2011 10:35pm
Conservatives are not smart enough to do the right thing. It would require for them to stop thinking like peasants with no education.
November 22, 2011 6:06pm
Too late to fix this by voting Democrat. They just say different things, but do the same things as the Repugnicans, since they're all beholden to the same 1% masters. I don't see a solution other than the one that was practiced during the French Revolution - unless we wake up and start to vote for idealists instead of fancy suits. Worshipping big business doesn't help you to get a job or become a successful CEO!
November 22, 2011 4:31pm
That is right David Vitter: LET THEM EAT CAKE!
November 22, 2011 2:45pm
We have some bad democrats. We don't have a single hippie in Congress or the Senate. No wonder we have not got a voice at the table.
November 22, 2011 2:03pm
It would appear that Senator Vitter would like to emulate Louisiana's stunning "success" in taking people off the welfare rolls while providing an enviable quality of life for its citizens:
1. Louisiana ranks 41st in the country in median household income.
2. Louisiana ranks 2nd in the country in infant mortality.
3. Louisiana ranks 2nd in the country in the number of people living below the poverty line (approx. $10,500 for an individual, approx. $22,300 for a family of 4).
Don't like those numbers . . .then let's pop over to Senator Paul's state:
1. Kentucky ranks 47th in median household income.
2. Kentucky ties Louisiana in 2nd place for infant mortality.
3. Kentucky ties Louisiana once again for 2nd place in the number of people living below the poverty line.
To all those Congressmen calling for huge cuts in the social safety net -- lest you speak out of turn and inexperience, before you call for such cuts, for six months you must first:
1. Live on the $200 per month that the average family (mother & two kids) receives from the State of Louisiana's Family Independence Temporary Assistance Program (FITAP).
2. Since we all "know" that the unemployed are just lazy and welfare keeps them dependent, you must find a low-wage job yourselves in this economy and somehow feed your family, pay your bills and for the gas needed to get to said low-wage job, etc., etc., etc. all on the minimum-wage/no benefit pay a job in Right to Work state provides . . . remember, you'll lose your paltry $200 FITAP grant if you don't.
3. Go without health insurance. See what it's like when your kid is burning up, has broken an arm, is having an asthma attack or your wife is diagnosed with cancer or your husband has a stroke and live through what the uninsured face every waking day.
We'll talk again about all of these cuts once you've had a chance to walk in THEIR shoes. Until then, back off and in the words of one sage leader remember, “we are our brother’s keepers”!
November 22, 2011 1:59pm
Intelligence seems to be a measure of Pirate-like behavior. I agree we have to do the numbers at the last call, but the system is corrupt, so the numbers have to introduce something other than the measure of what fits under the shoe sole. There are lies, damn lies, and statistics. Then, there is the convergent. Statesman must see this and make no distinction between privateers and corporate piracy. I would suggest a curriculum to arrive at intelligence, some texts being Psyche (Gregory Bateson), Immunology and Neurology (Francisco J. Varela), Biology (Lynn Margulis), Physics (don't doubt this until you look up Randell L. Mills), and Ecology (James Lovelock). In the meantime, learning is little more than a zoo. Oh, and mathematics, of course, would be Ralph Abraham.
November 22, 2011 1:32pm
I propose letting people like Vitter who should have been thrown out of congress for morals long ago and Paul living on poverty wages for a year without food stamps and no help from there billionaire friends and no access to their mansions.After a year let them take a lie detector test to see what they really think about poverty,that is if they last a year.
November 23, 2011 10:36pm
Don't kid your self, they soon take your life if you even try to take their money.
November 22, 2011 1:29pm
Vitter's just angry because you can't pay prostitutes with food stamps. How do these degenerate philanderers hold on in DC?
November 22, 2011 2:29pm
Because of the degenerate voters who vote for them!
That's not very nice of me, I know. Perhaps, rather than degeneracy, it is sheer unadultered ignorance on the part of the Republican electorate.
November 22, 2011 12:58pm
ALL DEMS SHOULD VOTE---EVERY SINGLE ONE--NO EXCUSES --EVEN THOUGH REPULSIVES ARE TRYING THEIR BEST TO CHANGE THINGS UP SO YOU CANT VOTE----JEEZ THEY ARE SOOOOOOO SLEAZY.
November 22, 2011 12:56pm
Vitter and his free market ideologues just don't get it. Free markets are fine for toys, stuffed elephants, guitar picks, etc. They don't however adequately distribute those things which people need and to which the UN Declaration on Human Rights lists as rights: food, shelter, water, healthcare, living wage, etc.They must be fought for and Vitter and his ilk must be challenged every step of the way. Mic check!
November 22, 2011 12:36pm
Job Pyramid
Any given population’s job pool is pyramid shaped with a lot of low paying/requirement jobs at the bottom, few high paying/requirement jobs at the top, and jobs of varying pay/requirements between the two extremes. What constitutes the range of jobs on a job pyramid depends on the needs/means of the population in question. Moving from one job pyramid to another only changes the range of jobs in the job pyramid, and does not guarantee a chance at getting any particular job because all jobs on a job pyramid are being competed for due to the job pyramid automatically adjusting for any given population..
For example, Funkytown may need a brain surgeon, but does not have the means to employ one. Meanwhile, Derpburg has the means to employ a brain surgeon, but does not need one. Lastly, New Jack City has the need/means to employ a brain surgeon, and thus is the only one of the three that has brain surgeon on it’s job pyramid.
A population’s job pyramid range may not be very big at all starting at the bottom with fast food employee, and ending at the top with manager of a convenience store. If you were to move from this job pyramid to one that began at the bottom with fast food employee, and ended with brain surgeon at the top you would have a larger range of jobs, but you would have no guaranteed chance of getting any of the jobs.
This is why education is considered a gateway criterion in order to meet the requirements of applying for a job, but does not actually increase your chances of getting a job. Any response to unemployment must address the job pyramid in addition to education in order to make true progress. Without that you will end up with lots of Masters level educated people working at low pay/requirement jobs.
The future IS high unemployment.
The job pyramid growth period of human history is over, and it will do nothing but shrink from now on.
We now need to contend with the reality that less jobs are needed to get what we need done in society, and plan appropriately.
Saying "get a job" is just ignorant of the fact that that is NOT possible for everyone anymore.
The jobs no longer exist.
Example: Arcades. Remember those? We used to have three where I live. They employed people, but then home gaming systems drove them out of business. Arcade jobs no longer exist here anymore, but the people who worked at them still do.
Movie rental places and movie theaters still exist, and they employ people, but they too will go away because of Netflix, and other streaming services people want.
It's progress.
There is nothing wrong with progress because it cuts down on resource consumption, increases efficiency, and is better for the environment. However, we need to get over this baby like attachment to “get a job,” because “get a job” is no longer realistic.
November 22, 2011 2:45pm
Part of the solution is job-sharing AND giving up the notion that "getting rich" is the primary goal of work. Job-sharing will give us the time we need to be with families, to pursue creative projects, to volunteer in the community. In other words, an hour of my time is as valuable to me as is an hour of Senators Paul and Vitters are to them. (Maybe more so, given their selfish, compassion-free politics.)
The income inequality gap needs to be shrunk by a whole lot. In my perfect world, I don't plan to completely destroy capitalism, but it will certainly be relegated to 2nd place behind a commons-based economy in which single-payer health care, education, air, water, air waves, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera, will be accessible to every human being in this country (and on this planet).
Bottom line: I won't mind paying taxes to make sure these resources are available to everyone. I won't mind at all keeping my spent money out of the hands of the wealthy.
November 22, 2011 12:36pm
WHAT IS THIS VITTER?!! 1936 GERMANY?!!?
OWS / 99%, FIGHT BACK !!
THE OWS / 99% “BLACK FRIDAY BOYCOTT.”
OWS and the 99% have the Power! “BUYING POWER.” It’s about time we used it. WE CAN INSTANTLY STOP THE FLOW OF BILLIONS OF DOLLARS.
Here’s how.
WE’RE NOT BUYING ON BLACK FRIDAY.
STRANGLE THE COMPANIES THAT ARE STRANGLING US!
Companies want our money, but they don’t want to help America get back on its feet?
We are being starved, now let’s starve those greedy corporations who took our money.
We want companies to hire us, politicians to vote for us, and this is how to force it.
We have an incredible mobile army of millions and millions and millions of people!
Let’s combine the power that we all have. VOTE, by NOT spending.
Stop buying as much as you can. Stop buying from ALL of the big corporations, retailers and banks; Wal-Mart, Walgreen’s, CVS, Rite Aid, Kroger, Costco, Target, Home Depot, Best Buy, Sears, Lowe’s, Supervalu, Procter & Gamble, Unilever, Georgia Pacific, RJR, Brown & Williamson, Kraft Global, Sara Lee, Tyson, BP, Shell Oil, Exxon Mobile, Hewlett-Packard, AT&T, Sprint, Dell, Microsoft, Dow Chemical, Chevron, Kimberly-Clark, Coca-Cola, Pepsi, J.P. Morgan Chase, Citigroup, Wells Fargo, Bank of America, Capital One, Ford, Chrysler, GM, Disney, Macy’s, Kohl’s, The Gap, Penny’s, Colgate, Nike, Staples, Office Depot, Lilly, Johnson & Johnson, Avon, Starbucks, McDonald’s, Wendy’s, Burger King, Kellogg’s, Dean Foods, General Mills, eBay, etc., All of them!
Add your own companies to our list and pass it on.
Don’t use global banks. Move your money from a big bank to a neighborhood bank.
Don’t use your credit cards or ATM’s…at all.
Don’t shop any retail chain stores. Shop local, or mom and pop shops.
Don’t buy gasoline. Walk, take a bus, car pool, or ride a bike.
Don’t buy any extras like music, movies, electronics, or toys…nothing.
BUY AS LITTLE AS POSSIBLE, FOR AS LONG AS POSSIBLE.
STOP SPENDING OUR BILLIONS OF DOLLARS AND WATCH WHAT HAPPENS.
Greedy global companies will be shocked and not know what to do.
Wall Street, the oil barons, corporate fat cats, stockholders, executives, marketers, retailers, politicians, and President Obama, will be asking us, the 99%, what we want!
“WE” WILL FORCE WALL STREET AND CORPORATIONS TO HELP AMERICA!
We have already started.
V
November 22, 2011 12:36pm
Artificial Scarcity
Artificial Scarcity occurs when the supply of X is controlled to make it scarce on purpose when the reality is that the supply of X is virtually unlimited. This is usually done to make X worth more than it really is, and thus increase profits for those who are the purveyors of X.
The easiest example of this is food. Every year millions of tons of food end up in landfills because the stores that bought it were not able to sell it. They rather throw it away to keep food scarce/expensive than give the food to those who need it for free. By doing so they create an artificial scarcity of food.
The largest example of artificial scarcity is the supply of money. Money is nothing more than metal/paper with fancy pictures on it, and has no intrinsic value accept what we give it. If we are experiencing financial problems we should either print more, or throw the entire concept of money in the garbage.
How morally bereft do you have to be to openly advocate the needless suffering/deaths of millions of people over the artificial scarcity of metal/paper with fancy pictures on it?
You cannot rely on private business to take care of society.
Private business is not for the people by the people. Private business is for the money by the company. Private business will take your money, and give you nothing in return whenever they can get away with it. See private health care for examples.
Huge government is great because as long as it is run properly it protects the people it represents from private business that will murder them for their money if they can get away with it.
http://www.progress.org/reform21.htm
All money is created out of nothing by a private banking cartel and then loaned into circulation at interest -- first by the Federal Reserve, via its purchase of government bonds; and second by commercial banks, via fractional reserve lending.
There are two critical problems with this process.
First, when the banking cartel loans money, only the principal gets created, not the interest. This is why the overall indebtedness of the economy is always several times greater than even the most liberal estimate of the money supply. Granted, if no one borrowed, there would be no interest to pay; but there would also be no money supply, and thus no economy.
Second, because all money is created as a loan, whenever the principal of a loan is paid back, the money supply is reduced by that amount.
Say, for instance, the money supply is currently zero. If a bank loans Person A and Person B $100 each and charges them 10% interest, the money supply increases to $200, yet total indebtedness increases to $220. As a result, the only way either one can pay the interest he owes is to capture a portion of the other person's loan principal through the process of commerce.
Thus, if Person A captures enough of Person B's loan principal to repay his loan plus interest, the money supply is reduced to $90. Of the $110 it receives from Person A, the only portion the bank can spend back into the economy is the $10 it receives as interest. Doing so increases the money supply to $100, leaving Person B with $10 of unpayable interest debt. At that point, the only way Person B can avoid bankruptcy is for someone else to obtain an interest-bearing loan from a bank, making it possible for Person B to capture the necessary portion of that someone else's loan principal to get out of debt.
So we see that, under our debt-based money system, interest can never truly be paid off, but can only be shifted from one person to another, or one sector of the economy to another (public to private, or vice versa). That more than anything else is what creates our dog-eat-dog, musical chairs economy -- an economy in which millions of people work frantically to capture other people's loan principal; and in which virtually everyone works (to one extent or another, and whether they realize it or not) as indentured servants to the banking elite.
The only way to fix this problem is to replace our debt-based money system with a debt-free money system. Under a debt-free money system, all new money would be spent into circulation interest-free instead of loaned into circulation at interest. This is just common sense. If the government can issue a dollar bond, it can issue a dollar bill. Both have the same backing. The only difference is that one bears interest, the other doesn’t; one serves the banking elite, the other serves the general public.
There are many ways to implement such a reform. The one I prefer is to peg the debt-free expansion of the U.S. money supply to the consumer price index (or something similar) -- that way, if the price level began to rise, the law would require (1) a moderate decrease in the percentage of government spending that comes from newly issued Treasury currency, and (2) a proportionate increase in the percentage that comes out of tax revenue. If the price level began to fall, the law would require the reverse.
As the resultant decrease in the public debt freed up an increasing percentage of the $200+ billion wasted every year on interest payments alone, and as the resultant boom in prosperity increased the tax base, tax revenues would soon exceed overall expenditures, thereby creating a real budget surplus (as opposed to the phony, "projected" surplus we heard so much about in the late '90s). At that point, adjustments to the growth-rate of the money supply could be made simply by adjusting the percentage of the surplus that is rebated to taxpayers. In other words, the rebate would go down if the price level went up, and up if the price level went down.
DEBT FREE MONEY NOW!
November 22, 2011 12:35pm
Vote DemocratThe Republicans' destructive social policies ENSURE there will be UNESCESSARRY SUFFERING AND DEATH.The Republicans dehumanize their victims like rapists, and use evil social policy to callously murder the non-rich.The Republicans know this, and actively CHOOSE to cause UNESCESSARRY SUFFERING AND DEATH.A vote for the Republican party might as well be rape and murder by proxy.The Democrats on the other hand have made good on some of their promises despite Republican barriers, and continue to advocate for the middle/poor classes against the Republicans' wishes. VOTE DEMOCRAT!