Republican Slammed After Telling SNAP Recipients to 'Stop Smoking Crack'
Source: Newsweek
Oct 30, 2025 at 11:35 PM EDT
Republican U.S. Representative Clay Higgins of Louisiana is facing backlash online after saying that Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) recipients who don't have one month of groceries stockpiled should never receive the benefit again and added, "because wow, stop smoking crack." Newsweek reached out to Higgins' office via phone Thursday night for comment after hours and left a message.
Why It Matters
The fate of SNAP has become a critical flashpoint in the ongoing federal government shutdown, with nearly 42 million Americans facing potential interruptions in food assistance. The benefits are expected to stop being issued on November 1, which has prompted Democratic Governor of New York Kathy Hochul to declare a state of emergency and calls for GOP House Speaker Mike Johnson to open Congress to vote on a bill to fund the program.
The controversy sheds light on broader policy and cultural battles over safety net programs, the federal budget and the use of political leverage in times of crisis.
What To Know
Taking to X on Thursday, Higgins, 64, said: "There are 22 million American households receiving SNAP benefits for groceries, at $4200 per year on average. Try to get your head wrapped around how many pantries you can stock with $4200 dollars in properly shopped groceries. Any American who has been receiving $4200 dollars per year of free groceries and does NOT have at least 1 month of groceries stocked should never again receive SNAP, because wow, stop smoking crack." The post sparked criticism online as Higgins was accused of playing into stereotypes and questioned about how much he spends on groceries.
Read more: https://www.newsweek.com/republican-slammed-after-telling-snap-recipients-to-stop-smoking-crack-10969721
Link to tweet
@RepClayHiggins
There are 22 million American households receiving SNAP benefits for groceries, at $4200 per year on average.
Try to get your head wrapped around how many pantries you can stock with $4200 dollars in properly shopped groceries.
Any American who has been receiving $4200 dollars per year of free groceries and does NOT have at least 1 month of groceries stocked should never again receive SNAP, because wow, stop smoking crack.

They have created this whole racist fictional dystopian universe in their twisted brains, that it's nothing but "free-loading POC" who are "gaming the system", when over 1/2 the beneficiaries are white.
From here - https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/07/19/what-the-data-says-about-food-stamps-in-the-u-s/

oasis
(53,198 posts)max.
durablend
(8,773 posts)tblue37
(67,676 posts)oasis
(53,198 posts)tblue37
(67,676 posts)You should read his Wikipedia entry!
oasis
(53,198 posts)rampartd
(3,020 posts)i try to keep about that in case of hurricane,
but this shutdown will last much longer than a month. who is harvesting and processing the food for next month, and the month after that?
thesquanderer
(12,849 posts)What money would be left over from that to stockpile a month's worth of non-perishable food for the future?
Though to your question about harvesting and processing, that's not directly affected by the shutdown, because that's done by private companies, not by the government. The shutdown will not cause a shortage of food for those who can afford to buy it.
rampartd
(3,020 posts)may actually stabilize prices for those who have money
the rest of us will forage on the street i guess.
airplaneman
(1,354 posts)karynnj
(60,682 posts)I think the Representative should be asked to try to stay under that for even two weeks. I believe some liberal congressmen, including McGovern, tried and it was very hard.
thesquanderer
(12,849 posts)$4200 per year is $350 per month (4200 divided by 12).
$4200 per year is roughly $11.50 per day (4200 divided by 365).
airplaneman
(1,354 posts)Im good at math except when Im not. Cheers
niyad
(128,540 posts)airplaneman
(1,354 posts)spooky3
(38,136 posts)rampartd
(3,020 posts)MaineBlueBear
(384 posts)Hey Louisiana, drug test your congress critter before re-electing this piece of walking garbage.
Thanks!
Aviation Pro
(15,064 posts)Piss hot, vote not.
vanlassie
(6,191 posts)Emile
(39,159 posts)raccoon
(32,137 posts)This Congressman is a POS.
Wednesdays
(21,325 posts)ShazzieB
(21,959 posts)Being out of one's mind and being an asshole are not mutually exclusive.
Attilatheblond
(7,809 posts)They like to think no white people are using SNAP or WIC, only those 'welfare queens' of a certain color. I had to listen to them when I worked at a little grocery store in a very rural town/county. Nearly every single ranch family with kids were WIC recipients and/or got SNAP too.
This is possible because family ranches/farms are incorporated, with family members drawing salaries from the corporation. Their accountants always kept those salaries low enough that the family could get all sorts of government aid. Most of their living expenses were paid by the 'corporation' as operating expenses. The 'salaries' they drew was mostly beer money.
Javaman
(64,914 posts)BumRushDaShow
(163,346 posts)But he won't talk about the meth-heads in his district.
Javaman
(64,914 posts)meth was destroying the midwest when moron nancy was spewing about "just say no".
they always go for the old catch phrases. never any real meaning behind them. just labels they can throw about without really thinking about them.
while they are bad, they only talk about opioids and fentanyl. meth never every makes the top of the page for them.
BumRushDaShow
(163,346 posts)where some of the cold medicines that actually worked, had their main active ingredient (pseudoephedrine) removed for OTC sale due to them being used as precursors in meth labs. You have to get those versions "behind the counter" and purchases are tracked via driver's license.
ShazzieB
(21,959 posts)And if I recall correctly, a different ingredient (can't recall the name) that has been found to be ineffective was substitued for the pseudoephedrine in a number of products. Thereby causing people who were buying the stuff that was still available otc to waste their money on ineffective crap.
BumRushDaShow
(163,346 posts)Yes. - the substitute - "phenylephrine" - was useless!
https://www.democraticunderground.com/10143335512
travelingthrulife
(3,813 posts)Look at all the evil things they are able to do using fentanyl as their boogeyman.
lonely bird
(2,617 posts)Read a book by Sam Quinones that talked about among other things synthetic meth which is not made from pseudoephedrine iirc. This version causes schizophrenia along with the addiction.
SWBTATTReg
(25,865 posts)Ozarks (MO). The police would ask if they could position a car or two there on my property across the road from these drug dealers (meth was their choice of drugs), so they could gather evidence, etc. Eventually they cracked down on them and took them out, arrested them. We were happy to help, as we were worried about the traffic coming in and out at all times of the day, and then our places all were right across the street (in the middle of nowhere, MO).
In the rural parts of America, there are spots like this everywhere I suspect, where drugs are too common, and used (I guess because they don't have neighbors right on their doorstep, watching them). It's a scary feeling when you have this sort of thing in the neighborhood. I worried a little bit as my dog would sometimes run across the road, onto their property, from my property, and I didn't want my dog to get shot. These aren't the neighbors one would want.
Blackjackdavey
(250 posts)in Northern New York. (Where everyone is white.) Seems to have filled the black market vacuum left behind by marijuana.
BumRushDaShow
(163,346 posts)compared to the other stuff and didn't require needles. Looks like it probably will be re-surging.
Vinca
(53,027 posts)spinach is still $6.99, and I said hello to a nice-looking pot roast at just under $30, then continued on my way. If you want a big bag of Dunkin Donuts coffee, it's $14.99 and a lousy can of tomato sauce is $2.00. Everything is too expensive and wages for the peons have been too low since forever. With AI, it's all going to get worse, not better. Jobs will be lost, and electric bills will skyrocket because AI is buying it all up. As my husband says about 10 times a day, "Glad we're not young."
mwmisses4289
(2,782 posts)Then when it gets broken down, it's barely anything. Kinda like the how long people sit in traffic crap- break it down and it works out to like an extra minute or two per day.
spooky3
(38,136 posts)A single person household. Some stuff is organic (expensive) and I live in a high COL area, so could be on the high side, but not by much. People with groceries that are much less than that are eating out a lotor not eating.
Higgins probably never buys groceries or prepares meals and/or hes pandering.
Ray Bruns
(5,788 posts)No empathy whatsoever. Something is not a problem until it affects them.
twodogsbarking
(16,760 posts)mwmisses4289
(2,782 posts)For that hundred bucks. Maybe.
twodogsbarking
(16,760 posts)ToxMarz
(2,611 posts)Everything old is new again with them.
LeftinOH
(5,603 posts)note the cans of "DICED PLRMS" with an image of tomatoes on the label. That, and nothing else is recognizable.
BumRushDaShow
(163,346 posts)WTF is that?
chia
(2,722 posts)BidenRocks
(2,519 posts)Then I also looked what they were stocking.
AI SLOP!
It's whats for dinner!
NoMoreRepugs
(11,723 posts)FakeNoose
(39,493 posts)That's how you answer this guy ....
MLWR
(672 posts)that has a large number of SNAP recipients. And they chose this "fucking moron" to represent them and their needs. Louisiana needs to look into firing his greedy @$$.
Prof. Toru Tanaka
(2,872 posts)is from Louisiana, also. Not to mention spineless Moses Mike.
CommonHumanity
(334 posts)I am single and spend way more than that. Granted I eat a lot of organic nutritious, quick-prep tasty food. The organic nutritious, tasty part shouldn't be a privilege. Maybe the quick-prep part is a privilege, but hell, I work long hours and weekends to keep my small business afloat.
Did this ass hat do the math and, if so, has he been grocery shopping lately?
ashredux
(2,807 posts)Somethings never change, same old shit
QueerDuck
(617 posts)mwmisses4289
(2,782 posts)he is rightly getting excoriated on twitter, with several people breaking down the math for him and asking variations of "when was the last time you went grocery shopping, bud?"
Bengus81
(9,584 posts)We easily spend $200 per week (for two retired people) and it seems like we have nothing when we get home. That POS is like FAT HITLER, hasn't ever been grocery shopping in a decade..if ever.
turbinetree
(26,771 posts)per month sitting around taking a vacation with a mint julip in his hand making over $3600 per week, while the "average snap beneficiary individual makes around $1,400 per month" or around $350 per week..................he can really go pound sand..............I hope people are picketing in front of his re-election office and his home............
Hey Higgins as a young boy growing up in the air force ...................guess what asshole we had to have snap benefits..............and as for that picture of the pantry food its about as fake as you are..................bite me.........................
Prof. Toru Tanaka
(2,872 posts)she and my wife qualified for WIC because I was a low-ranking airman and we were not yet in base housing. And neither of us smoked crack.
turbinetree
(26,771 posts)I will not go into what he is doing, but making $14,500 a month doing exactly what...............nothing
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clay_Higgins
Clouds Passing
(6,540 posts)GiqueCee
(3,029 posts)... you shit-brained moron. The annual dollar amount you stated breaks down to $350 per month, or $87.50 per week. When was the last time you went grocery shopping? I'm a prudent, sale-oriented shopper, and $87 barely fills my shopping bag.
I realize that empathy is frowned upon by conservatives, to put it mildly, but just this once, why don't you get your head out of your ass and take a moment to consider how your words and actions affect others less fortunate?
I'M KIDDING! It's a foregone conclusion that you lack the strength of character to think of others, or you wouldn't be a fucking Republican.
mdbl
(7,768 posts)And in order to receive that much, you are feeding children in your household. Unless your just buying seeds to plant good luck living on groceries for $87 per week.
chouchou
(2,607 posts)Rankings Scorecard
Crime & Corrections
#50
Economy
#50
Education
#48
Fiscal Stability
#46
Health Care
#47
Infrastructure
#48
Natural Environment
#49
Opportunity
#49
This tells a story. Oh Brother..
RainCaster
(13,337 posts)That way the billionaires who fill his pockets are kept happy.
3825-87867
(1,716 posts)But Callous Clay makes $174,000 per year.
That's $3300 per week for himself and an La. female(?)
Or $1600 per week for just him! Or $4800 in 3 weeks...just a little over the amount he complains many families recieve.
And for that $174,000/year for Clay, that amount could provide 41 families a year!
Plus his free medical for those on his family medical klan.
Plus goodness knows what other freebees he can get for working less than half a year.
Maybe some reporter could ask if Callous CLay can live on 20 bucks a week? Nah! They're too busy making excuses for Republicans.
Hey Clay, try living on $20 a week or STFU!
PatSeg
(51,490 posts)I was on food stamps years ago and there was absolutely no stockpiling of anything. After three weeks, we were pretty much out of everything and often had to go to food pantries to get by until the food stamps came through.
This clown has no idea what it is like for most people and I'll bet he's hardly ever done any food shopping. What a monster.
AllaN01Bear
(28,033 posts)Hekate
(100,129 posts)
also fat asses I think.
So a benefit used by 62% white people and 88% children with not enough to make it to the end of the month is seen by these MONSTERS as exclusively Black, able-bodied, drug-addicted, ghetto-dwelling adults, with brown illegal aliens thrown in.
May the heat of a thousand suns fry them
or maybe just that Hell they claim to believe in.
littlemissmartypants
(30,897 posts)Congratulations on 100,000 and eight posts!!!
Love you. ❤️
Hekate
(100,129 posts)🌈💕 🐸
kimbutgar
(26,491 posts)Prof. Toru Tanaka
(2,872 posts)He knows hes safe to let his freak fly high.
kimbutgar
(26,491 posts)RobinA
(10,453 posts)a clueless idiot without using the words. Most stamp receivers are lucky if they can make it through the month on their allotment, let alone having a month's supply in the closet.
electric_blue68
(24,911 posts)Apologies to real porcines!
Ruby the Liberal
(26,576 posts)Gee, given this windfall, I'm shocked that people aren't able to stock up a month's worth of food in advance. Expiration dates on meats and dairy are just suggestions after all.
cbabe
(5,931 posts)Washington, DC Office
572 Cannon House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Phone: (202) 225-2031
Lafayette District Office
Chase Building
600 Jefferson Street, Suite 808
Lafayette, LA 70501
Phone: (337) 703-6105
Lake Charles District Office
1625 Ryan Street, Suite C
Lake Charles, LA 70601
Phone: (337) 656-2833
republianmushroom
(22,078 posts)you are a typical republican ass. Not worth dog squat but a fine republican christian.
mwmisses4289
(2,782 posts)For some reason I read that as Repiglican rep...
No insult to pigs meant!
Torchlight
(6,145 posts)Now the trump government is declaring war on the impoverished, under the very same banner of dementia Reagan rallied his fleeced flock to.
Norrrm
(3,446 posts)SWBTATTReg
(25,865 posts)down.
Hmmm, by these comments on this post, I think that the reverse has happened, and that in fact, prices keep going up.
synni
(642 posts)I'm on full disability, and I receive less than $1,700 per year.
It seems to me that the only one who needs to stop smoking crack is anyone who thinks otherwise.
Cirsium
(3,145 posts)That amount is about 1/3 of the amount spent on food per person in the US.
patphil
(8,491 posts)A parent using SNAP benefits to the tune of $4,200. per year is getting about $350. per month. For a family of 4 that would figure out to about $87.50 per person per month.
Hardly enough to engage in pantry stocking; barely enough to feed the family if you're shopping carefully.
People on SNAP are shopping for daily consumption. They can't possibly afford to have a gigantic pantry loaded with supplies.
This jackass shows a huge pantry that appears to be stocked for Armageddon.
Well, I guess he doesn't have to rely on SNAP to keep his family fed.
BumRushDaShow
(163,346 posts)Zoom in on the cans and jars and bags and they are labeled with gibberish names.

I.e., it's AI-bullshit and it's what the GOP does - present "fake" and "lies" as "real" and "truth".
patphil
(8,491 posts)The pantry may be fake, but that guy's a real turd.
BumRushDaShow
(163,346 posts)Basically "fake" images and videos to try to legitimize their loony and craven rants, knowing none of them engage in fact-checking.
Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin
(130,983 posts)They're the ones who have their noses up Trump's ass.
Mblaze
(881 posts)Last edited Fri Oct 31, 2025, 04:04 PM - Edit history (1)
Tell me how much food you can stock away for twelve bucks a day. That's $4.00 for breakfast, $4.00 for lunch and $4.00 for dinner.
I'm not a great proponent of the concept of "evil" but, with these Republicans, I'm changing my mind. They must be smoking crack.
John1956PA
(4,622 posts)Higgens suggested there had been a possible cover-up which prevented him, a member of the committee investigating the July 13, 2024, Butler, Pennsylvania, shooting at the Trump rally, to examine the body of Thomas Crooks, who was killed by a round fired by a counter-sniper.
The voters of his district should send Higgens down to defeat in 2026 and vote in a stable-minded Representative.
IbogaProject
(5,420 posts)So our "Crack Problem" was caused by the GOP.
Martin68
(26,632 posts)chowmama
(934 posts)It isn't easy, requires time, space, and equipment, which is not cheap, and the extra food you have to buy that you're not going to eat this week sure as hell isn't cheap either. On $87 per week, you don't have any extra to do any of this.
If anybody's smoking crack, it's this asshole.
Quanto Magnus
(1,281 posts)stop smoking Trump's d#@$
KPN
(17,016 posts)I type. Right now, Clay Higgins is Public Enemy No. 1.
This list seems useful down the road a bit.
niyad
(128,540 posts)Last edited Fri Oct 31, 2025, 09:20 PM - Edit history (1)
quite a number on SNAP, get anywhere near $350/month. Most of the ones I know receive less than $200, some as little as $20 (twenty) or $30 (thirty).
May clay , and every person who voted for/supports/enables him, receive everything they deserve.
Evolve Dammit
(21,337 posts)popsdenver
(1,017 posts)include the 60+% Republicans in Louisiana that voted for Trump???????
sakabatou
(45,528 posts)Mr. Evil
(3,418 posts)Those women that had kids should've actually had abortions?! He is a Nazi Mengele freak!
red dog 1
(32,132 posts)Anxy
(17 posts)For sure.
CentralMass
(16,746 posts)BobTheSubgenius
(12,151 posts)We both got an immersive education in preparedness and thrift from our parents (my mother and both of her parents). My mother was HUGE into the idea of buying large quantities of durable goods when the prices were favourable, and my wife's family had a small farm, even though her father worked a more common job. Apparently, the execrable Mr. Higgins has no idea how far $80 a month goes ( or doesn't go, more to the point) when buying groceries.
My late FIL's company was once on strike for months, and their little farm went a long way towards smoothing out his co-workers bumpy roads. In our case, it seems to be a prudent tack, living as we do on or near two major fault lines. Although it helps the pocketbook in the long run, we do it mainly for preparedness...and it's satisfying to know that we could put together any one of literally dozens of different meals without a trip to the store. (It helps if you like pasta and meat substitutes, of course.)
BumRushDaShow
(163,346 posts)Hopefully it didn't have cans of "DICED PLRHS" or "DICED PLRNCF"or "DICED PLBTO".

BobTheSubgenius
(12,151 posts)....don't be dissing PBLTO!
BumRushDaShow
(163,346 posts)DUzy!
Jack Valentino
(4,030 posts)and stop poking young girls..... and/or young boys.....