Food Stamps and the Politics of Hunger

Families with children, the elderly and the disabled are feeling the first cut ever in the Food Stamp program. Automatic reductions of $5 billion took place on Friday, cutting monthly benefits for 48 million people. For a family of four, that's a reduction of $36 a month, about $1.40 per meal. Democrats are fighting Republican efforts to cut much more, but the Democrats themselves are responsible for what's happening now. As part of the economic stimulus program — and to ease the hardship caused by the Great Recession -- Congress increased Food Stamp benefits in 2009. The number of recipients has doubled in the past six years. Food banks say they may not be able to meet increased need, and low-cost retailers are bracing to take a big hit. Conservatives say cuts have been too long in coming, that Food Stamps create a "culture of dependency." We hear a dispute about economics and hunger.