More on spending cuts: do Republicans know how much they receive in benefits, and will they still favor cuts when they find out?

Ryan Streeter

Just after finishing this post today on voters' views of government spending and the challenges they pose to lawmakers, I came across this Bruce Bartlett column that makes the point differently (and it's more interesting than mine!).

He cites a study that "found that in 2004, a typical middle class family in the middle income quintile received $16,781 in benefits from the federal government."

He also creates the chart below from another study. The long and short of it is this: people who say in surveys that they have never received government assistance actually do receive assistance in ways they don't know or understand. Once lawmakers start getting more aggressive about cuts, watch out!

Percentage of Program Beneficiaries Who Report They “Have Not Used a Government Social Program”
Program	“No, Have Not Used a Government Social Program”
529 or Coverdell	64.3
Home Mortgage Interest Deduction	60.0
Hope or Lifetime Learning Tax Credit	59.6
Student Loans	53.3
Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit	51.7
Earned Income Tax Credit	47.1
Social Security—Retirement & Survivors	44.1
Pell Grants	43.1
Unemployment Insurance	43.0
Veterans Benefits (other than G.I. Bill)	41.7
G.I. Bill	40.3
Medicare	39.8
Head Start	37.2
Social Security Disability	28.7
Supplemental Security Income	28.2
Medicaid	27.8
Welfare/Public Assistance	27.4
Government Subsidized Housing	27.4
Food Stamps	25.4
Source: Suzanne Mettler, “Reconstituting the Submerged State: The Challenge of Social Policy Reform in the Obama Era,” Perspectives on Politics (September 2010): 809.