Study: Half of Nation's Poor Don't get Food Stamps

Whose to blame for this? And now that the economy is headed South those numbers will only rise:

Half of the nation's eligible poor aren't getting the food stamps to which they're entitled, a study released Tuesday found.

[...]Overall, 50.2 percent of the nation’s qualified poor received food stamps in 2004, according to the study by the National Priorities Project, a nonprofit and nonpartisan research group that examines the local impact of federal budget policies.

"We've got over 35 million people in this country struggling to get enough food to eat, and 50 percent of all low-income people are not receiving the benefit that is intended to alleviate this food insecurity," said Greg Speeter, the project’s executive director. "While the food-stamp program provides a vital service, clearly too many people are still going without."