White House: Gingrich food stamp claim is "crazy"

The White House responded today to a claim Newt Gingrich has been making on the campaign trail and made once again in last night's GOP debate - that President Obama is the "best food stamp president in American history."

White House press secretary Jay Carney said the notion that President Obama has put people on the food stamp program is "crazy."

While the number of people on food stamps is indeed at a record level, that's in part because of eligibility rules being relaxed under the administration of George W. Bush. It's also due in part to the economic downturn that began under Mr. Bush.

Carney pointed to the policies of Mr. Obama's Republican predecessor as well as the recession to explain the increase in beneficiaries. He told CBS Chief White House Correspondent Norah O'Donnell, "It was the result of the worst recession since the Great Depression, that was brought on by economic policies that certainly predate this president."

For the most recent month with available data, October 2011, 46.2 million people were enrolled in the food stamp program, which is formally known the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). Since Mr. Obama took office, the percent increase in enrollment has been 44.5 percent.

However, that percentage increase hardly makes Obama the "best food stamp president in American history," at least when you look at the question proportionally. The percent increase in beneficiaries during Mr. Bush's presidency was higher than it has been under Mr. Obama: The number of beneficiaries went from 17.3 million in 2001 to 28.2 million in 2008 - an increase of 63 percent in years that are mostly considered non-recessionary.

[Jaylah54]

Note to Jillian Hughes and CBS in general:

Former US presidents retain the honorific title of "President" for the rest of their lives.

I know you seem extraordinarily fond of referring to our current president as "Mr. Obama", but deciding to also refer to President George W. Bush (or his father, President George H.W. Bush) as "Mr. Bush" doesn't make refusing to use President Obama's rightful title any more right.

One might assume that if you are going to maintain any credibility in your political reporting, you would know such protocol basics as the proper form of address for sitting and past presidents. One would obviously be wrong with that assumption.

[jimbo31521]

Thirty-three percent of all U.S. blacks are on food stamps. Whites 12 percent.

[Jenson309]

This report is amateurish in the extreme. Bush was in office eight years; Obama has been in office three. As such a "proportional" comparison at this point is impossible.

More to the point, according to the figures cited above, the food stamp rolls have increased by about 14 million in three years under the incumbent, compared to an increase of roughly 11 million over eight years under his predecessor. Thus more people have enrolled in the program and more rapidly under Obama than Bush. This hardly validates Gingrich's position (which would require an analysis of data going back decades), but it does vitiate the idea that Obama has somehow performed better in relation to this particular metric.

This prompts two questions: If Obama can be said to have inherited the most recent recession, why is there no mention of the recession Bush inherited from Clinton (remember the dot-com bust, etc.?)? Obama's record, we are told, has this unmistakable mitigating factor, whereas Bush's tenure is described as "mostly non-recessionary."

More importantly, why is CBS employing poorly educated little girls to post Obama talking points thinly disguised as political reportage?

[tsigili]

Actually.......it is entirely accurate.

Obama has been more concerned with giving hand outs, than with creating jobs. In fact, most of what he has DONE, would stop any growth in jobs at all!

[Tired_of_liars]

by economicterror January 18, 2012 12:26 PM EST
DJ is off his meds, Again!!!!!!!!
--------------------------------------
I DO NOT TAKE MEDS, IDIOT! And when you said this:

"Dumya, Rove, Cheney, Rummy, and the anti American GOP economic terrorists controlled the House, Senate, Presidency, Supreme Court and all Federal agencies 2000-2006 when they squandered the Clinton surplus, illegal immigration tripled, the deficit doubled and deregulation of criminals on Wall Street caused the stock market crash of 2008 and subsequent $850 Billion Bush TARP leading to 10% unemployment., squandered the lives of 5,000 American troops and 150,000 Iraqi civilians on "war for Profit", and sold $5 Trillion in Treasuries to the Communist Chinese.
2006-2008, when the Democrats won the House, saw Dumya exercise his veto for the first time in his Presidency, so no reforms could take place.
Did the GOP economic terrorists fix the housing scam, Wall Street fraud, kill bin laden, fix Medicare, Social Security, the deficit, or our crumbling infrastructure, or did they leave that for President Obama?????"

IT HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH THE COMMENT. GET A LIFE MORON. YOU ARE A TERRORIST AND A TRAITOR TO THIS COUNTRY

[cntrygirl3]

Classic Newt, say something people want to hear whether it is true or not. Worry about any consequences when the dust has cleared and in this case the votes have been counted. The man is a bomb thrower and a saboteur. Newt has never worried a great sight about honesty and accuracy.

[Tired_of_liars]

y BlameRepublicanz January 18, 2012 10:08 AM EST
yes, because we lost millions of jobs at the end of the Bush presidency
------------------------------------------
While the DEMOCRATS controlled congress you fool

[musiness]

Oh, so the republicans had the presidency, AND the congress for 6 years.(The religious right probably thought the Rapture was at hand!) and the last 2 years, they had a little influence, with the republican still president, and you blame the collapse on them? Now talk about liars, that is just a lie. Republicans don't have a great record for telling the truth, for the simple reason that businessmen run the party, and business people have nothing against lying. They are also fools.

[Tired_of_liars]

Traitor Vet strikes again.

He has already been told I do not take Medication but yet he still posts. Wow English must be his third language

[overtax]

Obama has ruled over a few other things he like people to forget.
1 of 2 U.S. citizens living in poverty.
2011 highest yearly national average gas price ever.
2012 highest start of the year national gas price ever.
First President to sign into law indefinite detention without trial.

[musiness]

Bush created this poverty, and, all the prices continue to go up since inflation started hundreds of years ago. I guess you get these astounding facts from FAUX.

[Johnstone39]

Obama and the Democrats want as many people dependent on the government as possible. They manage and grow entitlement plantations to stay in power and attract votes. If over half of the USA population pays no Federal taxes and receives Federal government benefits, that is a nice voting block for them to mine. It is easy to vote for someone who promises to take other people's money and give it to you. No skin on the game and no skin off your back.

On another note, if the entitlement programs were working to help people get ahead and move to independence, the numbers of people using Federal entitlements would not continually be growing. The entitlement programs as promoted by the Democrats are a complete failure in helping people achieve independence and dignity.

[BlameRepublicanz]

riiiiight the number of people on food stamps is because Democrats FORCED them onto them...not because of the millions of jobs lost from late 2008 to early 2009!

[Tired_of_liars]

And who controlled our Congress at that time? Obama could screw something up and you idiots would try to blame the Republicans for it. You are not smart enough to figure it out

[Dgunner]

walmart parking lots are full of people selling food stamps at .50 on the dollar.The law can't stopthem because they can't approach the people and offer to buy them because that is entrapment.If the government would just hand out military meals ready to eat and take the billions swindled in food stamp cards and put it toward infrastructure. Then food stamp fraud would disappear.I have seen people who use TEA cash cards buy food return it through thr register then buy ciggarettes and beer.When the US government realizes the honor system went out with the dishwater the dept. of agriculture would flourish in product and job creation.I think it so funny that the US government actually thinks that the average american citizen is actually going to play by the rules and follow the laws. My tribe owns 17 casinos and on any given day there is thousands of dollars in food stamps sold at .50 cents on the dollar and people bring ice chests to the casino so when they go shop down the street at walmart they ice down thier meat and milk and cheese u til time to go home and give the card holder money which they put into our slot machines.Yes even your dear sainted grandmother is doing the same thing every month and evry day the card are refilled .

[Parrots10]

You are more concerned with People buying Beer and Cigarettes instead of focusing on the millions being milked from the government by corporations and the top 2% earners ....... Did you even consider how much total that could be for a thousand food stamp recipients and compare that to the lost tax revenue from just Romney ... if Romney is taxed as you and i are, these thousand cigarettes and beer food stampers would be covered and offsetted. Dumb Dumb Repugs !

[Lindag10]

Why do you keep posting this BS. There are NO Food Stamps that aare being sold ANYWHERE. Since the program went to EBT people have cards that they can only use to purchase food. The cash registers in stores are programmed to only allow the funds on the cards to be used to buy authorized items. If they return something purchased with EBT funds their card is credited and they aren't given cash back. If people are selling the items they purchase with Food Stamps on the street, then they are only cheating themselves out of the food they need. I don't know how it works on a reservation but that's how things work in the rest of the US.