From Reader WJ:

Legitimate EBT usage is encouraged, for the disabled, the truly needy and more.

Welfare usage in the United States has quadrupled since the year 2000, spiking since 2009 when the Obama administration allowed states to waive the work requirement for food stamp benefits. Since then, according to CNS News, "the number of “able-bodied-adults” without dependents receiving food stamps more than doubled nationally."

The chart below shows the spike from the year 2000 to 2013, which are the latest numbers available.

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According to the USDA website "An ABAWD is a person between the ages of 18 and 49 who has no dependents and is not disabled. ABAWD stands for Able Bodied Adult Without Dependents.

Disclaimer- Please understand when we reference "Career" welfare recipients in the article, we are not talking about those with a disability that prevents them from working, or those on SS, or even those that need a short-term helping hand, rather we are referencing those that think they shouldn't have to work at all, ever, because they get "free" money.

Via Forbes:

One key contributor is the growth in able-bodied childless adults on the program. Between 2000 and 2008, the number of able-bodied childless adults receiving food stamps hovered at or below one million.

But by 2013, a record-high 4.9 million able-bodied, childless adults were receiving food stamps. Federal spending on food stamps for these able-bodied adults skyrocketed to more than $10 billion in 2013, up from just $462 million in 2000.

In March it was announced that some states were moving to restore work requirements for food stamp recipients, and the results for those that have begun are astounding.

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The work requirement is simple, one must be working at least 20 hours a week or be enrolled in state-approved job training or education course. In Georgia, who initiated the work requirement in three counties to start with and are expanding it to 24 counties, they can also volunteer at a state-sanctioned non-profit or charity, in order to meet the requirement to continue receiving food stamps, otherwise known as SNAP.

Since the initial pilot program started in January, the numbers for the first three beta-test counties are shocking as there was a nearly 60 percent decrease in food stamp recipients.

Via AJC:"Since the rules were enacted in January, the number of these food stamp recipients has dropped from 6,000 to 2,400," in the three counties where the work requirement has been reinstated.

The 21 counties they will expand the requirement to in 2017 are; 1. Banks 2. Barrow 3. Bartow 4. Brooks 5. Catoosa 6. Clarke 7. Coweta 8. Dade 9. Fayette 10. Forsyth 11. Gordon 12. Heard 13. Jackson 14. Lowndes 15. Madison 16. Oconee 17. Oglethorpe 18. Paulding 19. Troop 20. Walker 21. Walton.

The results were even more dramatic in Kansas and Maine, which had previously reinstated their work requirement.

Via CNS News:

According to a report from the Foundation for Government Accountability, before Kansas instituted a work requirement, 93 percent of food stamp recipients were in poverty, with 84 percent in severe poverty. Few of the food stamp recipients claimed any income. Only 21 percent were working at all, and two-fifths of those working were working fewer than 20 hours per week.

Once work requirements were established, thousands of food stamp recipients moved into the workforce, promoting income gains and a decrease in poverty. Forty percent of the individuals who left the food stamp ranks found employment within three months, and about 60 percent found employment within a year. They saw an average income increase of 127 percent. Half of those who left the rolls and are working have earnings above the poverty level. Even many of those who stayed on food stamps saw their income increase significantly.

[...]

Maine is another powerful example in favor of work over dependency. Similarly to Kansas, Maine saw a major decline in its caseload after instituting a work requirement. Within the first three months after Maine’s work policy went into effect, its caseload of able-bodied adults receiving food stamps plunged by 80 percent, falling from 13,332 recipients in December 2014 to 2,678 in March 2015.

While critics of the requirement claim the "safety net" is being removed from those in need, there are a number of people that have turned being on welfare into their "career" of choice, and requiring them to either work, train to work or volunteer in order to be "paid" via foodstamps, is helping to stop abuse of the system, but frankly it still isn't enough.