In the Las Vegas Sun, Clarence Page debunks the Republican Party's perception that blacks are the primary recipients of food stamps, saying, "a California surfer dude has become the new 'welfare queen.' " Republicans who voted last week to cut food stamp benefits represent most of the counties that experienced the largest growth in food stamp recipients since the recent recession, he writes.
Before the House voted last week to slash food stamps by almost $40 million over the next 10 years, Politico reports, lawmakers from both parties received copies of a recent Fox News report entitled "The Great Food Stamp Binge."
The report profiles Jason Greenslate, a "blissfully jobless California surfer." The unmarried 28-year-old San Diego guitarist has taken advantage of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, better known as food stamps, while he aspires to become a rock star.
Suddenly, Greenslate became the nation's most famous food stamp recipient, much like presidential candidate Ronald Reagan rebranded Chicago's Linda Taylor as the "welfare queen" in 1975 …
Ironically, Republicans who voted to cut food stamp benefits represent most of the counties that experienced the largest growth in food stamp recipients since the recent recession, Bloomberg reports. Of the 254 counties where food stamps grew the most between 2007 and 2011, 213 voted for Mitt Romney in 2012, according to USDA and election data compiled by Bloomberg.
Read Clarence Page's entire piece in the Las Vegas Sun.
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