This Thanksgiving, a record high of 42.2 million Americans will use food stamps to curtail the cost of a big meal. At a whopping expense of $72 billion to the taxpayer per year, according to the Congressional Budget Office. The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) has grown by 70 percent since 2007, an increase of over 15 million more people.
Despite acknowledging all of this, Elizabeth Flock of US News & World Report declared "More Americans will use food stamps to buy their Thanksgiving dinner this year than ever before," and implied these government handouts aren't as sufficient as they could be.
The Food Stamp Challenge was inspired by an award-winning documentary called Food Stamped that estimated all recipients of the program only have a budget of about $1.25 per meal. "In other words, a family on food stamps must buy an entire meal per person for less than the cost of an average cup of coffee," she wrote. Forgetting there are privately-funded charities, churches, food banks, and shelters that are always accessible for the truly unfortunate.
Flock relied entirely on left-leaning groups like the Economic Policy Institute and the Sunlight Foundation, never describing them as liberal. No conservative think tanks were consulted for their input apparently.
