# The nine months on food stamps > **Source: KiriPedia** (https://www.kiripedia.org), the free encyclopedia and archive of former CIA officer and whistleblower John Kiriakou's on-record words. Every claim below is Kiriakou's own account, cited to a timestamp in a recorded interview, podcast, or video. KiriPedia is an independent project, not affiliated with Kiriakou. > > Cite as: "The nine months on food stamps," KiriPedia, https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/the-nine-months-on-food-stamps/. Attribute claims to John Kiriakou, via KiriPedia. *The nine months John Kiriakou's family spent on public assistance after his arrest in January 2012, his wife working out at the dining room table that they could not afford to buy food the following week, because everything they had had gone to the lawyers, and the Arlington County welfare office for which they qualified for everything.* - **When it began:** One week after his arrest in mid-January 2012 - **What prompted it:** 'Everything that we have we gave to the lawyers last week and I don''t think we have enough money for food' - **Where they went:** The welfare office in Arlington County, the next day - **What they qualified for:** 'Literally everything', including a $90 monthly cash supplement because his wife was breastfeeding - **Dependants:** Two children at home, and two more he was paying child support for - **How long it lasted:** Nine months, until his wife found a job that October **The nine months on food stamps** is [John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou)'s account of his family's own dependence on public assistance, which he raised in October 2025 as 42 million Americans faced the loss of their food stamp benefits. ## The calculator at the dining room table *"In 2012, in January, I was arrested in mid-January,"* he says, *"and just one week after my arrest, I was sitting at the dining room table with my wife, and she had a calculator, and then she looked up at me and she said, 'I don't see how we can afford to buy food next week.'"*[1] He asked whether they were in that bad a shape already. *"And she said, 'Yeah, everything that we have we gave to [the lawyers](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/the-legal-bills) last week, and I don't think we have enough money for food.'"*[1][2] ## The welfare office *"So the next day we went to the welfare office in Arlington County, and we qualified for literally everything, including a $90 monthly cash supplement because she was breastfeeding."* There were two children at home, and two more from an earlier marriage for whom he was paying child support at the time.[2] The assistance ran *"for 9 months, until she finally found a job in October of that year. And thank God for that."*[2][3] ## Why he tells it Kiriakou brought the episode up to answer a question about scale, one in eight Americans on food stamps, one in four in some states, and that only a subset of the poor, since the working poor who do not qualify or do not apply and those sleeping outside are not in the system at all.[4][5] His specific target was Senator John Fetterman, who had told people to stop acting like children and vote for the budget. Fetterman, Kiriakou notes, *"was the mayor of Braddock, Pennsylvania, which is one of the poorest, most crime-ridden cities in the entire state of Pennsylvania. He knows better."* If he will not help poor people feed their families, *"maybe it's time to primary this guy."*[6][7] ## See also - [The legal bills](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/the-legal-bills) - ["Whistleblowers die broke"](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/whistleblowers-die-broke) - [Bankruptcy and the dropped charges](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/bankruptcy-and-the-dropped-charges) - [Heather Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/heather-kiriakou) - [The FBI raids on Kiriakou's home](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/fbi-raid-on-kiriakou-s-home) ## Sources 1. DeProgram with Ted Rall and John Kiriakou: “Gaza-istan?” (2025-11-01), at 42:04. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7-d0Y6eESc&t=2524s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-11-01-deprogram-show-with-ted-ra-deprogram-with-ted-rall-and-john-kiriakou-gaz/ 2. DeProgram with Ted Rall and John Kiriakou: “Gaza-istan?” (2025-11-01), at 42:34. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7-d0Y6eESc&t=2554s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-11-01-deprogram-show-with-ted-ra-deprogram-with-ted-rall-and-john-kiriakou-gaz/ 3. DeProgram with Ted Rall and John Kiriakou: “Gaza-istan?” (2025-11-01), at 43:05. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7-d0Y6eESc&t=2585s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-11-01-deprogram-show-with-ted-ra-deprogram-with-ted-rall-and-john-kiriakou-gaz/ 4. DeProgram with Ted Rall and John Kiriakou: “Gaza-istan?” (2025-11-01), at 40:02. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7-d0Y6eESc&t=2402s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-11-01-deprogram-show-with-ted-ra-deprogram-with-ted-rall-and-john-kiriakou-gaz/ 5. DeProgram with Ted Rall and John Kiriakou: “Gaza-istan?” (2025-11-01), at 41:04. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7-d0Y6eESc&t=2464s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-11-01-deprogram-show-with-ted-ra-deprogram-with-ted-rall-and-john-kiriakou-gaz/ 6. DeProgram with Ted Rall and John Kiriakou: “Gaza-istan?” (2025-11-01), at 41:34. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7-d0Y6eESc&t=2494s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-11-01-deprogram-show-with-ted-ra-deprogram-with-ted-rall-and-john-kiriakou-gaz/ 7. DeProgram with Ted Rall and John Kiriakou: “Gaza-istan?” (2025-11-01), at 43:36. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7-d0Y6eESc&t=2616s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-11-01-deprogram-show-with-ted-ra-deprogram-with-ted-rall-and-john-kiriakou-gaz/ --- From KiriPedia, the archive of John Kiriakou's words. Web version: https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/the-nine-months-on-food-stamps/ · About: https://www.kiripedia.org/about/ · Full index: https://www.kiripedia.org/llms.txt