A report issued by Bread for the World says that 31 million people live in a family that can't afford the food they need. The country's emergency providers of food all report increased requests, 40 percent of which are from working families. According to the report, the welfare cuts spearheaded by the Clinton administration in 1996 have considerably contributed to the rise of hunger levels.

Bragging that his "welfare reform" law "ended welfare as we know it," Clinton often points to how many fewer recipients of food stamps there are now. Subject to eligibility criteria, many welfare recipients now employed under "welfare to work" programs have lost benefits of food stamps, health care, and child subsidies.

At a minimum wage of $5.15 per hour, which has not increased since 1997, many cannot afford to buy enough food to stay healthy. Minimum wage workers with an income of $10,712 per year fall $348 below the poverty line for a family of two. The number of recipients of food stamps has dropped by 10 million since 1994. In 1998, the number of full-time year-round workers with incomes below the poverty level increased by nearly 500,000.

Food stamps are often the only way low-paid workers can afford adequate food for their families. Each month 17 million people in the United States use this program, receiving an average of $71 per family. The "welfare reform" law also restricted access to food stamps by "legal" immigrants--those who arrived in the United States before 1996. According to the Government Accounting Office, the number of children receiving food stamps has dropped by 1.3 million or 10 percent, driving up the number living in extreme poverty by 426,000 from 1996 to 1997. The government defines extreme poverty as a family of three with income of less than $123 a week. In all, participation in food benefits has dropped from 1994 by one-third or 9 million people. Users of this program include 44.6 percent who are white, 34.3 percent African-American, 16.6 Hispanic, and 4.5 other groups.

The loss of food benefits has prompted more people to seek out food pantries, soup kitchens, and shelters that some private and church charities sponsor. For example, in New York the 600 pantries in 1992 have risen to 1,100 today. In Arizona, the number of recipients of a statewide food network grew by 50 percent while those getting food stamp benefits declined by 50 percent.  
 

Effects on African-Americans

African-Americans have also been hit with a general decline in their well being despite the economic upturn. According to a survey conducted by the University of Michigan, and reported in the New Pittsburgh Courier, the net worth of the median Black household decreased to $7,000, a decline of 17 percent from 1994 to 1999. During the same five-year period, the net worth of the median U.S. household rose 9 percent to $59,500. The decline followed a 10-year period where Black household net worth more than doubled. The study cites big gains in wealth by the richest 3 percent of African-Americans.

Meanwhile, the number of women in prison has also increased dramatically, rising since 1980 at nearly double the rate for males. From 12,300 Black women and those from other oppressed nationalities behind bars in state and federal prisons in 1980, the figure grew to 82,800 by 1997. The government's "war on drugs" is the main reason that more women are being incarcerated. Two-thirds of the women serving time have children under 18 years old. In New York, 91 percent of women incarcerated on charges for drug offenses are Black and Latino.  
 
 
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