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Food Stamps Restriction
Replies
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Packerjohn wrote: »I worked for the American Red Cross 40 hours a week in NYC and made $900 a month. I had food stamps. I bought vegetables and fruits, rice and beans mostly and once a week after a nice work out I'd buy a diet soda and some chips (all fit into my calories).
I was the healthiest ever while on food stamps, lost 120 lbs without having any crazy restrictions.
There is no reason to control what people buy on food stamps because it has no effect on your life, besides that why are you assuming poor people will make terrible food choices? Junk food is often more expensive and less stretchable than rice and beans anyway.
$900 / 160 hours (4 weeks @40 hrs a week) is $5.63 an hour, substantially below the minimum wage in recent years. Something doesn't add up.
Americorps and Peacecorps are paid a stipend that is not subject to federal minimum wage laws.
The programs actively encourage food assistance programs for survival.
https://www.nationalservice.gov/programs/americorps15 -
1. Here in Virginia, the SNAP card is the same card that some gov't employees get their wages on and the same card that child support payments are deposited to. Just because you see someone using a "food stamp" card, doesn't mean they're on government assistance.
2. Personally, I don't think banning certain items would be beneficial. Most recipients are children- why shouldn't they be able to have a little Debbie snack cake in their lunch box? Or some soda after school?
3. Anecdotally: I can't afford NOT to buy soda/cool aid/drink mixes. My kids will drink 4 gallons of milk and 2 gallons of OJ *every 3 days* if I don't. (And, yes, they do drink tap water.)15 -
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zachbonner_ wrote: »Heather4448 wrote: »1. Here in Virginia, the SNAP card is the same card that some gov't employees get their wages on and the same card that child support payments are deposited to. Just because you see someone using a "food stamp" card, doesn't mean they're on government assistance.
2. Personally, I don't think banning certain items would be beneficial. Most recipients are children- why shouldn't they be able to have a little Debbie snack cake in their lunch box? Or some soda after school?
3. Anecdotally: I can't afford NOT to buy soda/cool aid/drink mixes. My kids will drink 4 gallons of milk and 2 gallons of OJ *every 3 days* if I don't. (And, yes, they do drink tap water.)
how many kids do you have
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Here's a story with a bit of perspective. It's written for a religious site, but the content of the article is not really religious:
The Day I Bought Steak with my Food Stamps
Excerpts:I cried every night, the week before I finally applied for food stamps. I was so ashamed. Food stamps are for losers, people who make stupid, irresponsible choices, people who want to live a life of luxury while other people work hard to pick up the slack. This I knew.Then my husband’s employer cut the overtime hours, but still required everyone to hand in the same amount of work. No, it’s not exactly legal, but there weren’t any other jobs to be had that year. His schedule still varied wildly and unpredictably from day to day, and we couldn’t find any jobs that would make up the lost overtime income and allow him to show up at either 8 a.m. or 11:45 p.m., depending on what else he was doing.
Now the kids got hot dogs for supper, and the adults got a hot dog bun with ketchup. We figure and figured and figured, and discovered that, no matter how hard we squeezed, we were always going to be about forty dollars short of being able to eat and pay our basic bills. Just forty dollars — something that, five years ago, when the economy was better, I would have spent on odds and ends at Target without thinking twice. But it was forty dollars that we didn’t have now, at all.Everything else in our material lives was completely awful. There was no hint of luxury anywhere, no wiggle room, nothing simple or easy. Everything was dirty and sour, and everything was a struggle. Everything we tried to accomplish was impossible because six other impossible things had to be fixed first. The one and only expansive thing was the food budget. So I bought a freaking steak, and it was so juicy and good.23 -
Australian here.
When I was young and homeless I was given the equivalent of food stamps on two occasions buy a non government charity organisation.
These could only be 'spent' on general grocery items (including 'junk food') but not on alcohol or cigarettes. Fair enough, huh?
A common scam at the time was for people to buy a couple of big items like giant coffee jars, then return them for cash and then go and buy what they really wanted ... smokes, grog, drugs.
I guess how this relates is that people who want something and have some sort of 'money' to use will find away around any regulations or limits to trade for what they want.
...........
Now they are trialing quarantining of welfare in some areas.
They originally trial it in troubled indigenous communities. Nanny state and racist much?
Here the problem is drug use though, not soft drink. They government will drug test welfare recipients.
Test positive and 80% of welfare will be only able to be spent on food/rent etc.
Test positive again, no welfare.
That all sounds well and good until the first cut off junkie starts breaking into houses to fund their adiction.
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Digression, sure - but it's all government wanting to control assistance and the poor choices of the lower socioeconomic cohorts.
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Australian here.
When I was young and homeless I was given the equivalent of food stamps on two occasions buy a non government charity organisation.
These could only be 'spent' on general grocery items (including 'junk food') but not on alcohol or cigarettes. Fair enough, huh?
A common scam at the time was for people to buy a couple of big items like giant coffee jars, then return them for cash and then go and buy what they really wanted ... smokes, grog, drugs.
I guess how this relates is that people who want something and have some sort of 'money' to use will find away around any regulations or limits to trade for what they want.
...........
Now they are trialing quarantining of welfare in some areas.
They originally trial it in troubled indigenous communities. Nanny state and racist much?
Here the problem is drug use though, not soft drink. They government will drug test welfare recipients.
Test positive and 80% of welfare will be only able to be spent on food/rent etc.
Test positive again, no welfare.
That all sounds well and good until the first cut off junkie starts breaking into houses to fund their adiction.
..................
Digression, sure - but it's all government wanting to control assistance and the poor choices of the lower socioeconomic cohorts.
Was just reading about how it is also going to result in a massive increase in dealing - what easier way to access your drugs than sell them?1 -
I never understand how, with all of the tax dollars the government almost literally flushes down the toilet, it's social programs for the poor that people get all judgemental and righteous about. For every soda or bag of chips bought with SNAP benefits, there are millions of $$$ of tax breaks for corporations, or new weaponry that will never see the light of day, or redundant government jobs given as political favors. But it's always more fun to kick a person when they're down than to get brave enough to take a swing at the big guys.
Most people who get SNAP benefits use it to supplement their food budget. So they know they have $100 in SNAP bennies and $100 in cash for the month. They may use the SNAP card somewhere they feel less self-conscious about using it, like say a dollar store or Walmart to buy snacks, and then use their own cash at a local grocer where they can get whole food staples cheaper. People need to quit thinking you can catch a peek at a person's life in the checkout line and draw any meaningful conclusions.
This change would not affect me one bit, my taxes will not go down as a result of it. I wish my life was so perfect the only thing I had to worry about was whether or not people were spending their SNAP dollars in a way I would like them too.43 -
I'm in favor of what someone else suggested a few pages ago by making SNAP work more like WIC. Nutritious items like fruits, vegetables, meats, while grains, and dairy items would be approved for purchase by the program, and items that didn't have approval (like cookies, crackers, soda, etc.) Would be paid for by the buyer's money. SNAP is meant to help people afford to buy enough food to eat. It's not meant to cover 100% of a person's food budget. If someone in SNAP wants to buy soda, that's fine, but they should use their own money to pay for that and use their SNAP benefits to buy actual food.13
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Strawblackcat wrote: »I'm in favor of what someone else suggested a few pages ago by making SNAP work more like WIC. Nutritious items like fruits, vegetables, meats, while grains, and dairy items would be approved for purchase by the program, and items that didn't have approval (like cookies, crackers, soda, etc.) Would be paid for by the buyer's money. SNAP is meant to help people afford to buy enough food to eat. It's not meant to cover 100% of a person's food budget. If someone in SNAP wants to buy soda, that's fine, but they should use their own money to pay for that and use their SNAP benefits to buy actual food.
Do you even know how SNAP works?8 -
food stamps are too easy to get. I once got 200 per month just because I was a student in college and not working. it is too easy to manipulate the system and get them. I think they just need to be regulated more.3
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In my state you can buy absolutely anything besides alcohol and cigarettes. Anything with a nutritional label on it qualifies. It is too easy to get them in my state. I have many friends on it who get 200 a month and are in school or who are not working but their husband does and they just lied on their application. WAYY too easy to take advantage of. I am all for food stamps for those who truly need it, but unfortunately many people 'work the system'.3
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Noreenmarie1234 wrote: »In my state you can buy absolutely anything besides alcohol and cigarettes. Anything with a nutritional label on it qualifies. It is too easy to get them in my state. I have many friends on it who get 200 a month and are in school or who are not working but their husband does and they just lied on their application. WAYY too easy to take advantage of. I am all for food stamps for those who truly need it, but unfortunately many people 'work the system'.
Did you report them? I mean if they are "working the system", that's illegal and should be reported. Also it's contributing to the problem.12 -
If anyone is interested in a book about a similar topic - $2.00 a Day: Living on Almost Nothing in America - http://amzn.to/2w7rYQc
I read it a few months ago - it covers info about some of the different welfare reforms over the years and how they have positively/negatively impacted those who live below the poverty level in the us
personally - not a fan of regulating what can be bought with SNAP - however, I would be in favor of places (stores, foodbanks) maybe offering a free class in how to buy/prepare food that is cheap and easy - for many people I think that is something they struggle with - especially depending on living situation (maybe no stove, or only a hot plate etc).6 -
Student benefits. It's not that easy to get "food stamps". You have to prove that you are independent from your parents and live alone on a very small paycheck/salary. Pay your own bills/rent. File taxes as such. You cannot have too much money in savings/checking or a car that is too high in value (I think under 2 grand). You actually have to be very poor.
It can be done if you have smart parents that really know how to hide money well, but all this for $200 a month? Federal Fraud risk? Jail time and fines?9 -
Packerjohn wrote: »To be honest, I would like to see restrictions on SNAP to allow payments for nutrient dense foods only. Along with that, I would be willing to increase the amount of payments.
I'd be open to this kind of idea (make it more limited but increase the amount to help afford a greater variety of nutrient dense foods), and apparently surveys of those on SNAP indicate that they would too (see https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2013/11/should-food-stamps-buy-soda/281342/ and http://www.slate.com/articles/business/moneybox/2013/08/food_stamp_choices_should_people_be_allowed_to_buy_junk_food_with_their.html).
I don't feel strongly about it either way, and would note that for most on SNAP it's supplemental, so whether you directly buy soda with it or not doesn't really determine whether you are still buying soda (if it's prohibited) or also buying vegetables (if it is not), etc. But I am kind of sympathetic to the idea that we shouldn't be in essence subsidizing the soda manufacturers, and this is arguably one way.
What I see as the problem with the "only nutrient dense food" idea is how do you define it and enforce it in any kind of reasonable way. The simple idea would be that it can't be used on anything not taxed as food (vs. other types of purchases), but in IL that leaves out prepared food, candy, and soda only.
So how would you work this proposal given realities?
Also, I am wary of it being used punitively (if you are poor you shouldn't get a birthday cake!) or motivated by stigma (the poor are fat and stupid) or a desire for more stigma (the ugly idea that buying on SNAP should be more obvious and embarrassing than it is), which I think are attitudes that permeate a LOT of discussion of these kinds of issues in the US.6 -
The actual Florida bill proposed in the OP is a complete nothingburger. It requires the Florida Dept. of Children and Families to request a waiver to prohibit buying soft drinks on SNAP until it's granted by the Feds. It's posturing so that the representative who proposed it can make some political points with his constituents next election time.
You can read the actual bill here:
https://myfloridahouse.gov/Sections/Documents/loaddoc.aspx?FileName=_h0047__.docx&DocumentType=Bill&BillNumber=0047&Session=2018
The whole thing is reveals more about the supporters than anything else.
Does it save taxpayer money? NO.
Does it prevent waste or fraud of taxpayer money in entitlement programs? NO.
Does it promote health or fitness to the people receiving the entitlements? NO.
Does it single out the people on these programs for the purpose of pandering to the representative's political base? You betcha!
If the representative could get away with it, he'd propose a bill to hire this woman to follow SNAP recipients through the checkout line.
ETA: Link to the actual legislation that started this nonsense.21 -
Here's a story with a bit of perspective. It's written for a religious site, but the content of the article is not really religious:
The Day I Bought Steak with my Food Stamps
What a terrific piece of writing. Thanks for linking it.
I got a little choked up reading it I must admit. Although my parents never claimed benefits to my knowledge (though I'm sure they would have been eligible for them) our financial state during my childhood was challenging to say the least.
Despite this my memories of childhood are really happy ones. I have no doubt that my parents shielded me from the worst of what they were going through. Though they never spoke about it they must have had to deal with some real crap back in the 70s and 80s (after which time things got much better.) I am forever grateful and was truly blessed for their love.
So many people are just a paycheck or two away from poverty. An illness here and a lay off there and BOOM! welcome to the breadline. Not moral failure but sheer bad luck. Once you are there it can become a vicious cycle and difficult to escape from. Pointing the finger and then moralising about it can be the height of crassness.
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Please. So why isn't the US prison population (who eats the lowest nutritional value) on a day to day basis for YEARS, not reflect the same issues as the US population then?Obesity, cancer and diabetes epidemic is not just because people are overeating, its because the food is not healthy at all.
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distinctlybeautiful wrote: »
100% on board with this.7 -
GlassAngyl wrote: »Totally for it. And they should add all junk food items as well. Leave baking items and they can make junk from scratch...
Then you'd complain they were spending the money on steaks and shrimp, I here it all the time. Food is expensive for the working poor ( not making a living wage and not poor enough for aid) and soda is cheap. Natural and healthier choices are twice as much as junk food, or haven't you noticed8 -
Haven't seen a good food stamp thread since back in my parenting board days, good times lol.
Years ago we qualified for WIC and I thought that was a really good system. There was a list of allowed foods and that's what the vouchers covered. It's been years but I know dairy and certain kinds of cereal were allowed, along with peanut butter, and I think beans/bagged grains? We also got vouchers for formula as part of that program.
Food stamps in the U.S. are meant to SUPPLEMENT someone's groceries, not completely pay for all of them, so I have no problem with having restrictions on what can be bought with them.
Also it almost never comes up, but if one is receiving food stamps then they're also eligible to receive other assistance-most notably free school lunches for their children. On top of that, many schools now have programs in place where bagged suppers are sent home with kids-meaning parents literally are only feeding their kid's breakfast, (the bagged meals go home with them on the weekends as well, plus many schools around here offer summer food programs for students). And at least here, we have numerous churches that offer food banks-you literally can rotate through them every week and get bags of food-including meat and fresh produce, (my parent's do the food bank circuit around here and they have more food than they know what to do with it).
eta: unless the school offers breakfast, which most do now, and then parents don't even have to feed their kids that. I'm sure this varies greatly based on location, but around me at least there's all sorts of food resources available if one is low enough income to qualify for fs.7 -
Need2Exerc1se wrote: »distinctlybeautiful wrote: »
100% on board with this.
Judge much!5 -
LJGettinSexy wrote: »GlassAngyl wrote: »Totally for it. And they should add all junk food items as well. Leave baking items and they can make junk from scratch...
Then you'd complain they were spending the money on steaks and shrimp, I here it all the time. Food is expensive for the working poor ( not making a living wage and not poor enough for aid) and soda is cheap. Natural and healthier choices are twice as much as junk food, or haven't you noticed
This is thrown out all the time, but many times it's just not true. I eat a very 'healthy' diet and I fit it in, along with the rest of my family's groceries, on a pretty small grocery budget. Beans, whole grains, frozen veggies, frozen chicken etc are all pretty inexpensive.
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LJGettinSexy wrote: »GlassAngyl wrote: »Totally for it. And they should add all junk food items as well. Leave baking items and they can make junk from scratch...
Then you'd complain they were spending the money on steaks and shrimp, I here it all the time. Food is expensive for the working poor ( not making a living wage and not poor enough for aid) and soda is cheap. Natural and healthier choices are twice as much as junk food, or haven't you noticed
I have not noticed this. I have however checked out behind someone buying live lobsters with food stamps.10 -
Strawblackcat wrote: »I'm in favor of what someone else suggested a few pages ago by making SNAP work more like WIC. Nutritious items like fruits, vegetables, meats, while grains, and dairy items would be approved for purchase by the program, and items that didn't have approval (like cookies, crackers, soda, etc.) Would be paid for by the buyer's money. SNAP is meant to help people afford to buy enough food to eat. It's not meant to cover 100% of a person's food budget. If someone in SNAP wants to buy soda, that's fine, but they should use their own money to pay for that and use their SNAP benefits to buy actual food.
If my food budget is $20 and $10 of that is from SNAP, why does it matter I'm actually purchasing the soda with? If I use my SNAP to buy $2 worth of beans and then use my $2 that I didn't spend on beans to buy soda or vice versa, it's the exact same result.13 -
I believe, and I was once a food stamp recipient, that had I been restricted more, I would have had to make better food choices. I only see this as positive.8
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Noreenmarie1234 wrote: »In my state you can buy absolutely anything besides alcohol and cigarettes. Anything with a nutritional label on it qualifies. It is too easy to get them in my state. I have many friends on it who get 200 a month and are in school or who are not working but their husband does and they just lied on their application. WAYY too easy to take advantage of. I am all for food stamps for those who truly need it, but unfortunately many people 'work the system'.
That some people will apply for food stamps when they know they're not in genuine need (as you did when you were in college) or that people will lie to qualify for food stamps doesn't change the fact that there are people who really do need assistance.
People should take responsibility for their own actions, including actions like applying for public benefits when they don't need them.11 -
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I was on food stamps and I had a full time job that paid *kitten*. I used all the money I made on bills. When you are poor AF it's nice to be able to buy a treat once in a while. Pop is what $4-5 for a 12pack who cares if they buy that it's does not take all the money.8
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