GRETA VAN SUSTEREN, FOX NEWS HOST: We now know that both accused bombers received welfare benefits from the state of Massachusetts. But what about other welfare recipients? Any other welfare recipients on the terror watch list? Tonight, Massachusetts lawmakers are demanding answers from Governor Deval Patrick’s administration. Should we be doing that in every state?
Former congressman Allen West joins us. Good evening, sir.
ALLEN WEST, FORMER FLORIDA CONGRESSMAN: Good evening. How are you doing, Greta?
VAN SUSTEREN: I’m doing well. All right, so we know that they were receiving benefits and at least two of them, the — the — Tamerlan and maybe his mother — I don’t know if she’s — if she received benefits, but she was on the watch list. How — how much are we looking at these watch lists to see whether or not they’re sort of double dipping, your on a terror list and you’re getting welfare benefits?
WEST: Well, absolutely. We should look at the terrorist list and we should do all types of cross-checks. One of the things we have to be concerned about is the incredible explosion of food stamp recipients in the United States of America over the last five years.
And when you look at that expansion, you have to start asking yourself, you know, Are these people that are legitimately on these programs? If you talk to the Agriculture Committee chairman over in the House, Frank Lucas from Oklahoma, he will tell you that 75 to 80 percent of the farm bill that they have now is nothing more than the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, the SNAP program, food stamps.
So I believe that one of the things that we need to start looking at is, do we have people that are here illegally? Do we have people that are here on a terrorist watch list that are not receiving these benefits — that are receiving these benefits that they shouldn’t receive?
And then, also, Greta, let’s be honest. There’s a little bit of a theocratic, ideological aspect to this. There’s a Muslim cleric over in the U.K. by the name of Anjim Chundari, and he basically said that they should come to these Western countries, as he is doing in the U.K. and receiving social welfare benefits to the tune of $39,000 himself because that is a jihad seeker’s allowance. They call that jija tax, and they believe that non-Muslims, or kafirs, as they call us, are entitled to pay them this jija tax.
So we need to be very careful and understand the effects that this has on our budget and our debt, but also understand the theocratic ideological aspect of it, as well.
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