Sessions Demands Changes as Welfare State Balloons to Record Size

Late last week the Department of Agriculture released new statistics that illustrate just how massive the U.S. welfare state has become. 2012 was the biggest year yet for the food stamp program. An average of 46,609,072 people were on the program last year, and in December that number ballooned to a record 47,791,996.

Defying all logic, politicians in Washington, D.C. are now promoting the food stamp program as a path to economic growth. “Amazingly, the federal government says that the more people we have on food stamps, the more it grows the economy,” said Senator Jeff Sessions in this week’s Republican Address. “The Department of Agriculture proudly declares: ‘Each $5 in new [food stamp] benefits generates almost twice that amount in economic activity for the community.’ Our government is running food stamp promotions at foreign embassies. One worker was given an award for overcoming ‘mountain pride’ and getting more people to sign up. Where I grew up in Alabama, all honest work, even the hardest, was honored. And pride, self-respect, and a desire to be independent was valued, not a thing to be overcome”

Sessions also pointed to Washington, D.C. and Baltimore, MD as examples of cities that have been decimated by liberal policies.

“Despite this fountain of federal funds, 1 in 3 children still live in poverty in our nation’s capital. Two in three children live in single parent homes. In nearby Baltimore — another city governed by liberal policies for decades — 1 in 3 residents are on food stamps and in 1 in 3 youth live in poverty. Americans are committed to helping our sisters and brothers who are struggling, but we are seeing the damaging human consequences of our broken welfare state.”

“We spend a trillion dollars each year on federal poverty programs. That’s more than the budget for Social Security or Defense. But poverty seems only to increase. Something is wrong. Compassion demands that we change.”

Sessions said Republicans’ reform solutions focus on putting people back to work rather than adding them to the welfare rolls. “[W]e must act to create more jobs and better pay. And we can do it without adding to the debt. Here’s how: Make welfare temporary and the welfare office an employment and job training office… Unlock America’s vast energy resources to create millions of good-paying jobs… Enforce an immigration policy that protects legal U.S. workers from unlawful competition… And, finally, we must balance the federal budget.”

You can view Sen. Sessions’ full remarks below.