On his radio show today, Rush Limbaugh mentioned that he “saw a statistic doing show prep today that more people in the country right now are getting food stamps than are getting paychecks. More people are getting food stamps than are getting paychecks. Yeah, yeah.”
He wasn't even close.
Rush didn't say where he got this “statistic,” but the most recent data available, from July, show that more than three times as many people were employed that month than were receiving food stamps. The USDA reported that in July, around 41.8 million individuals received SNAP benefits (19.4 million households), while the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that around 139 million individuals were employed that month.
It's worth noting that Limbaugh used this “statistic” the same day CNN reported that Fox News' Newt Gingrich is “urging his fellow Republicans to craft the final month of their battles against Democrats as ones that come down to 'paychecks versus food stamps.' ”