"To reduce food stamp participation, Gingrich recommends that the federal government fix the amount of money for the program and then send the money to the states as a block grant, which would put a cap on SNAP spending regardless of need, and place the burden of cutting the program on the states. An analysisby the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities shows that a plan like this, which was part of House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan's (R-WI) budget plan, would either cut the benefit level so low that it wouldn't even meet USDA's definition of a bare-bones diet or would kick more than 8 million vulnerable citizens off of food assistance, resulting in a spike in hunger, particularly among children, the elderly, and disabled Americans."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/melissa-boteach/gingrich-is-wrong-ab
The quote above is from Melissa Boteach's fine article at the Huffington Post, written just moments after the final GOP debate in South Carolina. (When you click on her name, the link here takes you to a good video clip about contemporary poverty in America.)
There is a falsehood abroad in the land that Newt Gingrich is a friend of people with disabilities, though the evidence for this is slimmer than a 60's retro necktie. Gingrich has famously said that the ADA is "a dumb use of resources" but of course what he means by "resources" is rather interesting for in Gingrichland, the "R word" is perjorative–people who need resources are little better than miscreants–witness his views on mental illness. In his book on renewing America, he lumped the mentally ill in with dangerous criminals.
While it remains true that in general, neither liberal or conservative politicians are well versed in disability, it's clear that Gingrich has kicked the weak throughout his public life, and weeping for his mother is hardly the anodyne necessary for conversion.
A superb analysis by Ari Ne'eman of disability and contemporary American politics can be found here.
Planet of the Blind 