Greg Ganske: “But the point that I wanted to pursue is that even back when I was working in the store--my dad just recently retired…”

“But the point that I wanted to pursue is that even back when I was working in the store--my dad just recently retired from managing a grocery store--there is a significant and a growing problem with abuse in the Food Stamp Program. It is not that food stamps should not be there for the people who need them. Both the gentleman and I know that they should. It is that there has been a growing problem with people abusing the system, and we know that food stamps have been used as a form of currency for drugs, to help fund drug abuse, that able-bodied people who should be working have been getting food stamps. So what we did in our reform bill was we addressed that. We set up encouragement for electronic billing to try to cut down on the technical problems with food stamp waste and fraud. I just am very optimistic. I believe that there is a role for government. I happen to believe that government can work a lot better than we have seen it work. But every time we try to change something, we run up against special interest groups that have a vested interest in seeing no change, and it is a real battle.”