A Record One in Ten Americans On Food Stamps

For the first time ever, the number of Americans receiving government food assistance will exceed 30 million Americans - that's a staggering 10 percent of the country's population and the highest number of food stamp recipients in our nation's history.

While hunger is certainly an issue in and of itself, it is indicative of an even greater problem facing America: poverty. Millions of people are barely making ends meet, struggling to stay one or two paychecks ahead of homelessness. This point is illustrated by the Washington Post:

To qualify for the food stamp program, whose name was officially changed last month to the Simplified Nutrition Assistance Program, recipients must have an income below 130 percent of the federal poverty level, or less than $27,564 for a family of four. The benefits, which average $109.93 a month per person, are based on a plan set by the government to represent a low-cost but nutritionally adequate diet.

These new figures come to light just as Congress is reconvening to discuss a second economic stimulus package. Richard Bloom points out on LA's Homeless Blog that the timing of these numbers will likely make hunger the talk of the next round of economic relief allocations:

Congress may put the spotlight on hunger, but they're not likely, without leadership from the top, to throw a flood-lamp on new thinking to end poverty. If I know Congress, its members will fight among themselves until they come up with a way to up the benefits to the poor: more money for food stamps, a little more housing assistance. Like the Thanksgiving turkey from the local food bank, however, they may not address the root causes of homelessness and poverty-lack of affordable housing, living wage jobs, and insufficient government subsidies.

One in ten people require government assistance to put food on the table. These numbers prove it's time to put away the band-aid solutions and start developing a real plan to bring an end to poverty in America.