foodstamps.JPG

U.S. Rep. Tom Cotton wants you to believe a bunch of SUV-driving, iPhone-waving, steak-eating welfare cheaters are dining out on lobster and caviar in the federal nutrition assistance program known colloquially as food stamps.

Advertisement

Facts don’t count with Cotton — inflaming prejudice with hoary myth works so much better politically — but I thought I’d provide some above anyway.

Three-fourths of the assistance — the ability to get about $121 a month per person for food purchases (not vodka or champagne) — goes to families with children. Almost half goes to working families. A third goes to families with disabled or elderly members. 89 percent of the families who qualify are earning below $22,000 for a family of four. The average Arkansas household gets $282 for food each month, or about $9 per day. You wouldn’t need an SUV way-back to hold $282 in groceries, much less filet mignon.

Advertisement

Here’s a fuller version of the Arkansas-related aspects of the program.

Also, here’s the breakdown in the 4th Congressional District, currently represented in Congress by Club for Growth designee Tom Cotton. Recipients of assistance are split about equally between white and black families, by the way. Almost 80 percent of the families are working. In one in four families, at least two members of the family are working, but still qualify for the meager federal assistance that Tom Cotton wants to slash.

Advertisement

Be a Part of the Fight

Step up and make a difference by subscribing or donating to the Arkansas Times, the progressive, alternative newspaper in Little Rock that's been fighting for truth for 50 years. Our tough, determined, and feisty journalism has earned us over 63,000 Facebook followers, 58,000 Twitter followers, 35,000 Arkansas blog followers, and 70,000 daily email blasts, all of whom value our commitment to holding the powerful accountable. But we need your help to do even more. By subscribing or donating, you'll not only have access to all of our articles, but you'll also be supporting our efforts to hire more writers and expand our coverage. Join us in the fight for truth by subscribing or donating to the Arkansas Times today.

Previous article Krugman offers a lesson on food stamps to Tom Cotton Next article Recent Arkansas Music Pavilion additions: Lynyrd Skynyrd, Easton Corbin