This is a Bushista talking, so why are you surprised?
Remark on food bank users draws fire
US official fends off calls to resign
By Malia Rulon, Associated Press | June 24, 2004
WASHINGTON -- A senior Agriculture Department official's comment that people who eat at food banks are "taking the easy way out" was taken out of context, an agency spokeswoman said yesterday, after five members of Congress called for his resignation.
Eric Bost, the department's undersecretary for food and nutrition programs, was quoted in a June 6 story in The Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch about the growing use of food banks as saying he was skeptical of claims that food needs among the poor were increasing.
"There's a bump, but how much of that is due to people taking the easy way out? I don't know," he said.
Bost told the newspaper that food-stamp enrollment is up because of government outreach to eligible people. He also said that since many food pantries don't require documentation of income, not everyone receiving provisions is truly in need.
