Food stamp enrollment creeps down in Colorado

After rising for more than a decade, enrollment in the federal food stamp program dropped in Colorado in 2013. 

Nearly 10 percent or 186,217 of Colorado households received food stamps in 2012. New data released Tuesday from the U.S. Census Bureau shows that the rate dropped to 8.6 in 2013, or 172,179 households.

Enrollment in the program jumped sharply during the recession; in 2000, only 3.3 percent of the state's households were enrolled in food stamps. As a result, Republicans in Congress want to tighten eligibility requirements.