Government runs ads to get more people on food stamps– – Did you get your Obama bucks?

NEW
YORK (CNNMoney) -- More than one in seven Americans are on food stamps,
but the federal government wants even more people to sign up for the
safety net program.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has been
running radio ads for the past four months encouraging those eligible to
enroll. The campaign is targeted at the elderly, working poor, the
unemployed and Hispanics.

The
department is spending between $2.5 million and $3 million on paid
spots, and free public service announcements are also airing. The
campaign can be heard in California, Texas, North Carolina, South
Carolina, Ohio, and the New York metro area.

"Research has shown
that many people -- particularly underserved seniors, working poor, and
legal immigrants -- do not understand the requirements of the program,"
said Kevin Concannon, a USDA under secretary.

The radio ads, which run through June 30, come amid a bitter partisan fight over the safety net program.
Republican lawmakers want to reduce funding for the benefit or turn it
into a block grant program, which would also minimize the cost.
Democrats, however, are not willing to make major cuts.

The issue has become so heated that Newt Gingrich called President Obama the "food stamp president" to show how he's increased government spending.

Food stamp enrollment certainly shot up during the Great Recession, though it had been rising for more than a decade.

President
Bush launched a recruitment campaign, which pushed average
participation up by 63% during his eight years in office. The USDA began
airing paid radio spots in 2004.

President Obama's stimulus act
made it easier for childless, jobless adults to qualify for the program
and increased the monthly benefit by about 15% through 2013.

Some
46.4 million people are in the food stamps program, also known as
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP. That's just a touch
below the record high hit in January.

Still, more than one in four Americans eligible for food stamps do not participate, according to USDA records.

And the rate is much lower among the the elderly and people just above the poverty line. Nearly two-thirds of folks in these categories aren't enrolled.

In
one ad, an elderly woman is surprised to learn that her friend is on
food stamps. The friend explains that now that she's retired and on a
fixed income, the program "helps me eat right when money's tight."

"Millions
of low-income seniors struggle to afford life's necessities like food
and medicine," said Stacy Dean, vice president for food assistance
policy at the left-leaning Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
"Enrolling in SNAP can help ease that struggle."

Deficit hawks,
however, don't want to see the government spend more money on food
stamps at a time when lawmakers are trying to reduce the size of the
federal government. The deficit for fiscal 2012 is projected to top $1
trillion for the fourth year in a row.

In fiscal 2011, the federal
government spent more than $75 billion on food stamps, up from $34.6
billion at the end of fiscal 2008, according to the USDA.

"We
ought to be looking for ways to save money in the program, not to
encourage more people to use it," said Chris Edwards, an economist with
the Cato Institute, a libertarian organization.