46.6 Milliion Americans receive Food Assistance : U.S. Dept. of Agriculture report (June 2012 statistics)

from Obama - Food - o - rama (Google BLOGGER weblog)

. . .the US Department of Agriculture has newly reported an all-time high for the number of Americans using the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, aka Food Stamps. In June, the latest month for which data is available, more than 46.6 million Americans received benefits, at a cost of more than $6.2 billion. That's a spike from the previous record high during the Obama Administration in December of 2011, when more than 46.5 million beneficiaries used the nutritional safety net. About 1 in 7 million Americans are enrolled in the program.

When President Obama took office in January of 2009, about 31.9 million Americans used Food Stamps, at a monthly cost of more than $3.6 billion. In the last four years, federal spending for Food Stamps more than doubled, to a record $75.7 billion for the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, 2011.

The June number is 3.3% higher than in 2011, and up .4% from May. The news comes as the economy is a major issue for the President's re-election effort, with White House and campaign aides regularly asked by reporters if Americans and the economy are "doing better."
http://obamafoodorama.blogspot.com/2012/09/usda-food-stamp-use-hits-new-record.html