How did the United States become a nation of so many needy people? The simple answer is members of Congress decades ago began to see the federal government as a charity more than a constitutional republic. They took on problems that were not theirs to solve and a certain section of the population has been demanding more from the government ever since.
Today there are over 80 government assistance programs providing food, housing, medical care, social services, and even cash to poor and lower income Americans. In 2023 the United States spent $1.24 trillion on these programs with nearly half of this money being paid out for medical care through Medicaid.
The U.S. taxpayer is currently being asked to help approximately 65 million people meet their basic needs – food, shelter, healthcare, utilities. What does this say about our country when so many people cannot provide for themselves? How many of these people would rather remain poor on assistance than work harder to earn enough money to make it on their own? Are we enabling these people to stay stuck with just getting by?
Hunger is a great motivator. Are we depriving this segment of our population of the motivation required to fight for a better life? The United States has the heaviest poor population in the world. To be blunt – we have a lot of fat, poor people in this country. It’s not politically correct to point this out, to say it out loud, but it’s true. Perhaps this is evidence we’re going about it all wrong.
Should the Federal Government be Feeding People?
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)
As of February 2025, 42,072,401 people participated in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), commonly known as food stamps. In 2024 the federal government spent approximately $122 billion on feeding certain people enrolled in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
In 2022, about 1.5 million non-citizens received SNAP benefits, costing taxpayers roughly $4.2 billion. Non-citizens are immediately eligible for food stamps if they can show they are part of any of these groups of people.
- Refugees
- Individuals granted asylum
- Victims of severe trafficking
- Deportation withheld
- Amerasians
- Cuban and Haitian entrants
- Iraqi and Afghan special immigrants (SIV)
- Certain American Indians born abroad
- Hmong or Highland Laotian tribal members
- Compacts of Free Association (COFA) citizens of the Federated States of Micronesia, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, and the Republic of Palau
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How did the United States become a nation of so many needy people? The simple answer is members of Congress decades ago began to see the federal government as a charity more than a constitutional republic.
The United States defines a refugee as a person who is located outside the U.S. and is of special humanitarian concern, having a well-founded fear of persecution due to race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or membership in a particular social group. They must also be unable or unwilling to return to their home country because of this fear.
During the Biden administration being classified as a “refugee” was a low hurdle to overcome. During the Biden term (2020-2024) an estimated $17 billion worth of food stamps were provided to non-citizens. This is in addition to the multitude of other federal assistance programs that non-citizens, including those who entered the United States illegally, were able to benefit from at the U.S. taxpayer’s expense.
Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) Program
The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) serves to safeguard the health of low-income pregnant and postpartum women, infants, and children younger than 5 years who are at nutritional risk. WIC served about 6.6 million participants each month in fiscal year 2023, including an estimated 39 percent of all infants in the United States. Federal program costs for WIC totaled $6.6 billion in fiscal year 2023.
Additional Children’s Nutritional Programs
The United States spent $38 billion on school lunch, breakfast, and after school snacks for school children in 2024. Combined with SNAP and WIC, in 2024 the United States spent $167 billion of your money feeding certain people. This does not provide for the general welfare of the nation. It’s providing for the general welfare of a select group of people.
Arguably, all the select charity the federal government has involved itself with is not a constitutional function of the federal government. This includes feeding people. Feeding needy people is the function of local charity on a short-term basis. People relying on the federal government nipple must be weaned off and figure it out. Afterall, we’re Americans, not communists.