Last week, GOP presidential candidate Newt Gingrich called Barack Obama the “food stamp president,” citing a record number of Americans receiving food aid.
Idaho has set its own record, as the number of people receiving food stamps rose from about 87,000 in 2007 to about 229,000 in 2011, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Now, 15 percent of Idahoans get food stamps.
Since Otter became governor in 2007, the food stamp caseload has jumped 163 percent, putting Idaho behind only Nevada’s 172 percent growth rate.
Between 2007 and 2009, the most recent year available, the percentage of eligible Idahoans who received food stamps rose from 62 percent to 70 percent, still 2 percent below the national average.
Otter agrees with Gingrich that the blame belongs to Obama because his mishandling of the economy has put more people on the dole.
“I think he was right on,” Otter told me Tuesday.
Otter acknowledges he contributed to program growth by easing eligibility requirements. For 24 months, from June 2009 to May 2011, Otter waived a $2,000 asset limit. In June, he reset the limit at $5,000. (A house and a vehicle used for work are exempt from asset calculation).
“I made a humanitarian decision,” Otter said. “I have no liking to see anybody go hungry either, or make a decision between whether they’re going to put heat in the home or food on the table.”
Otter also said there would have been substantial growth without relaxing the asset standard because of job losses. “We said, let’s give this a couple years and hopefully we’ll be out of this by then.”
The average monthly food stamp benefit is $130 per person; about half of recipients are children under 18.
Some lawmakers, including House Speaker Lawerence Denney, R-Midvale, and House Minority Leader Mike Moyle, R-Star, are unhappy with food stamp growth and want reform.
“Yeah, we’re the food stamp kings,” said Denney.
Last year, the Legislature passed laws criminalizing any attempt to get food stamps with an improper Social Security number and allowing the state to verify the number of children in a household by requesting birth certificates.
Among the ideas for further reform are putting names and photographs on food stamp cards, which act like debit cards.
Denney said he sees abuse in the program, including people not buying staple foods. “I remember one guy that had a whole shopping cart full of hamburger, but he wasn’t buying it for himself. He couldn’t buy dog food, so he bought hamburger with food stamps to feed his dog.”
Moyle said he once saw a woman who seemed short of needy. “The gal used food stamps and got in an Escalade. That’s a $70,000 car.”
Moyle worked with Rep. Christy Perry, R-Nampa, on an ID bill that died last year. She’s now pressing that and two other ideas: a minimum-age requirement to use food stamps at a store — perhaps 15 — and a pilot program barring junk food purchases.
“We are trying to put some reins on a program that, yes, is seemingly running away,” Perry said. “But I think that has an awful lot to do with just the dire straits that people are in right now.”
House Health & Welfare Committee Chairwoman Janice McGeachin, R-Idaho Falls, supports adding the ID and pushing the feds to cut out junk food because of its public health impacts.
But she defends Idaho’s looser eligibility rules. “We were trying to accommodate the needs of our people. If (Gingrich) wants to characterize it that way, that’s his choice, but he’s not the one that has boots on the ground dealing with real people and real problems.”
Her Senate counterpart, Patti Anne Lodge, R-Huston, cautioned that Gingrich was making a rhetorical point in a campaign. She also backs Idaho’s looser standards.
“What’s $5,000 worth of assets?” she said. “Some of these people have lost their jobs. They’ve been making their house payments. Food stamps are a hand up to get you through tough times. They’re not something that you’re supposed to stay on for a lifetime.”
House Commerce and Human Resources Committee Chairwoman Sharon Block, R-Idaho Falls, declined to opine on Gingrich’s rhetoric. “I do know that with the economy the way it is, there are more people truly in need. I think it’s the responsibility of civilized society to help those who are truly in need.”
Dan Popkey: 377-6438
