- BREAKING NEWS - WATCH: Unabashed Surfer Receiving Food Stamps to Buy Sushi and Avoid Work Published August 12, 2013 FOX NEWS INSIDER - It was during an investigation into the record number of food stamp recipients that Fox News’ John Roberts met Jason Greenslate, a surfer and rocker who is living the self-described “rat life” in California.The 29-year-old signed up for SNAP and receives $200 dollars a month in taxpayer money for food. He put it simply, “I don’t got a paycheck coming in, so I qualify.”All he has to do is provide his birth certificate and Social Security card and fill out a form once a year.In 1996, if you were an able adult with no family, you would only qualify for food stamps for three months every three years. President Obama wiped away those restrictions when he signed the 2009 stimulus bill. In 2010, the president used his regulatory powers to extend the suspension of the welfare-to-work requirements.Greenslate is trained to be a recording engineer, but he told Roberts he has no paycheck because holding down a steady job isn’t for him.

So, it was off to the gourmet section of the grocery store, as Greenslate purchased sushi and lobster with his EBT card. “All paid for by our wonderful tax dollars,” he said, telling Roberts that’s what he typically buys.“This is the way I want to live and I don’t really see anything changing,” Greenslate said. Get this story and more at the Fox News Insider→ Sound Off on Fox Nationtoko bahan sushi onlineWASHINGTON -- Jason Greenslate is America's most famous food stamp recipient.food delivery waterloo london Fox News profiled the 28-year-old San Diego resident in two August segments about America's "food stamp binge." where to buy sushi knife in japanThe stories showed Greenslate buying sushi and lobster with a Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program debit card. chinese food delivery calgary ne

Greenslate plays in a rock band and laughed at the idea of getting a normal job. “This is the way I want to live and I don’t really see anything changing,” Greenslate said in front of the news cameras. Fox distributed the clips to Capitol Hill offices, and Greenslate became Republicans' poster boy in their effort to cut nutrition spending. On Thursday evening, shortly before the House of Representatives voted to trim food stamps by 5 percent, Rep. Tim Huelskamp (R-Kan.) said, "You can no longer sit on your couch or ride a surfboard like Jason in California and expect the federal taxpayer to feed you." Greenslate, for his part, said he thinks it's stupid for Congress to legislate based on the Fox stories. "I don't think that one person should be the decision for 47 million people," Greenslate told HuffPost after Thursday's vote. Much of the food stamp debate turned on the question of who are those 47 million people? Greenslate is not exactly a representative example.

Government data make clear the vast majority of households receiving benefits include at least one member who is either a child, elderly, or disabled. But Republicans have focused on recipients who are able-bodied adults without dependents -- people who may be like Greenslate. Able-bodied adults without dependents made up 10.2 percent of SNAP population in 2011, up from 6.6 percent in 2007. Federal law only allows such "ABAWDs" to receive three months of food stamps, but most states waive the requirement because of high unemployment. Research shows the doubling of food stamp rolls from 2007 to 2012 owes to the bad economy. But Republicans, led by House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.), have emphasized the waivers. Thursday's legislation would take the waivers away, thereby denying benefits to 1.7 million Americans next year. The legislation, in the unlikely event it becomes law in its entirety, would reduce SNAP enrollment by 3.8 million in 2014, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

The House GOP bill will have to be merged with more moderate Senate legislation before any of it can become law. Greenslate said he's not lazy, putting more than 40 hours per week into his band, Ratt Life, which has an album coming out in six weeks. He said Fox found him through a friend. He cooperated with three days of the network's filming in hopes his band could win some publicity. It won him some local media attention, he said, but also an interview with a local prosecutor who wondered if Greenslate had broken any laws (he apparently hasn't). "I do work," Greenslate said. "I'm just not making any money. I'm setting up a career for myself." House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), who represents part of San Diego county, said he has a low opinion of Greenslate's career strategy. "Clearly it's an example of somebody using a government program that is unreasonable, considering he has chosen to make less money and is using public assistance for a lifestyle decision," Issa told HuffPost.

"He obviously is anticipating being very rich later and not paying back the money." Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.), a member of the House committee that oversees nutrition assistance, said he resented that Greenslate had posed for a portrait of the ultimate food stamp loafer. "I don't give a damn about surfer dude," McGovern told HuffPost. "As far as I'm concerned, he can walk off the nearest pier. To suggest that he's the face of SNAP is offensive." In a follow-up email, Greenslate lamented that Fox had portrayed him as a beach bum. "I don't feel like a bum," he said. "I pull hot chicks, drive nice cars, dress nice and wear the most baddest jewelry in the world." Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Work Requirements Food Stamp Work Requirements Food Stamps Darrell IssaCaroline May4:03 PM 08/10/2013 During an hour-long deep dive into the growing use of food stamps in America, Fox News highlighted “the new face of food stamps.” That new face is a pina colada-sipping, lobster-loving lothario named Jason Greenslate.

Greenslate, a 29-year-old La Jolla California surfer and musician who sings that he does not want a “motherfucking job” and has “fuck no” guilt about living on $200 of what he calls “free money ” — or what the government called Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Benefits — while he avoids a job to hang out on the beach, sing and chase women. “Wake up, go down to the beach, hang out with my friends, hit on some chicks, start drinking,” Greenslate said, describing his day to Fox News’ John Roberts in an interview for the channel’s “The Great Food Stamp Binge” hosted by Bret Baier.Just get away from everything, clear your head. Get out with the boys. Have a good time.” Roberts reports that Greenslate has no fixed address, instead choosing the life of a beach bum staying with family, friends and girlfriends, living off them and $200 a month in benefits from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, which he uses to buy gourmet items at the grocery store.

“I don’t got a paycheck coming in so I qualify,” Greenslate told Roberts. Fox News’ cameras joined Greenslate on one of his grocery shopping expeditions. With his Electronic Benefit Transfer card (EBT), the vehicle for food stamp benefits, Greenslate purchases sushi, lobster and coconut water. “All paid for by our wonderful tax dollars,” he said with a smirk, leaving the store with his purchases. “I’ll usually get sushi, but make it my own way, they didn’t have any good fish, so I just got the premade stuff,” he told Roberts after the grocery store visit, explaining his typical food buy. Greenslate and his friends grilled the lobster along with chichken and hot dogs and shared the meat. Greenslate has no intention of getting a job. “That’s not the direction I’m going right now,” he said to Roberts, explaining his ambition is to be a rock star. “It’s going great,” Greenslate said about his state of unemployment. “Yeah, it’s going really well.”