Gingrich’s Obama ‘food stamp president’ claims prove false
George W. Bush saw more Americans sign up on food aid than Barack Obama, according to data from the US Department of Agriculture.
Newt Gingrich’s attack that President Barack Obama put the most amount of Americans on food stamps in US history has been proven false by a number of news outlets.
Gingrich who described Obama as “the best food stamp president in American history” falsely claimed the president of having "more people have been put on food stamps by Barack Obama than any president in American history."
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An inquiry into the US Department of Agriculture by USA Today revealed that under Obama, 14.2 million Americans were signed on the food stamp list. Under President George W. Bush, that figure was by nearly 14.7 million.
There were 46.2 million people, or 14 percent of Americans, on food aid as of October 2011, the most recent month on record, according to government data.
From the report:
“Gingrich would have been correct to say the number now on food aid is historically high…But Gingrich goes too far to say Obama has put more on the rolls than other presidents.
…
It's possible that when the figures for January 2012 are available they will show that the gain under Obama has matched or exceeded the gain under Bush. But not if the short-term trend continues. The number getting food stamps declined by 43,528 in October. And the economy has improved since then.”
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Even if the food stamp list grew the largest on record during Obama’s administration, it would be tough to pin the blame squarely on the president.
“It’s hard to determine how much blame Obama deserves compared to his predecessor, President George W. Bush, but the experts we spoke to, conservative and liberal, agree that Obama inherited a serious economic situation.”