A Republican lawmaker in New York wants to prohibit food stamp recipients from using the federal aid to buy steak or lobster at the grocery store. Because apparently people living in poverty shouldn’t be allowed to eat either of said items?
How dare they.
The bill introduced in the New York Legislature by state Sen. Patty Ritchie refers to steak and lobster as “luxury food items,” according to The Washington Post. And it would also prohibit people from buying things like soda, candy and cake.
The proposal falls in line with a decades-old conservative fear that people use government assistance to purchase high-end foods. A strikingly similar proposal popped up last year in Missouri last year and another was signed into law by Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback (R) in April.
WaPo writes that the New York Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program already restricts buying liquor, cigarettes, pet food and hot or prepare foods—understandable. But with this proposal it seems more about chipping at people’s dignity. “Only rich people can buy a cake for their child’s birthday!”
From the WaPo article:
Essential items, her proposal notes, include “milk, juice, fruits, vegetables, granola bars, peanut butter and dozens of other healthy foods.”
The goal of [SNAP] is to help low-income consumers make wise and healthy food choices—however in New York State, SNAP beneficiaries are able to use their taxpayer-funded EBT cards to purchase things like soda, candy, cake and other types of junk and luxury items,” the statement says referring to electronic benefit transfer cards.
No, this isn’t a case of being concerned for people’s health. It’s about continuing the denigration of low-income communities. Let’s be real.
This article appears in Feb 18-24, 2016.
Maria, why don’t you interview a grocery store cashier? You have so much to learn, outside of school. Basic economic intelligence would dictate that the lower the cost of food, the more it would allow you to purchase and build a stockpile.
Why would you spend a large amount and one meal just to be hungry the next day and out of money?
The real shame is that we have to say anything at all. A person with no deductive skills is destined to remain there. And breed like kind.
So earners are taxed and have more of their income confiscated.
I can’t believe I actually have to say this, but, Get off of Welfare and SNAP, then you can purchase and eat whatever you want with your own money.
For the most part SNAP is an excellent program. Their are offenders though, every program has them. I know this because I used to purchase the balance on SNAP cards for 60 cents to the dollar when I was poor attending ASU. I purchased 73 percent fat beef, vegetables, rice, potatoes and pasta. I am not poor anymore, but still shop frugally and shop at multiple grocers to maximize my dollar.
I have witnessed SNAP buyers purchase junk food and steaks, then walk to their new model vehicle with a new loud stereo system. I don’t see this every time I shop, but I see it often enough to give me pause and concern.
People are living above their means and people are abusing the system. This just seems like another DO-NOTHING Bill with no real enforcement.
If we stopped importing poor people from south of our border and the middle east, I am pretty sure we would have less poor people in the United States.
Did they teach you cause and effect in between your socialist worker La Raza meetings at the U of Az? Or was economics an elective in the School of Journalism?
Do they have a SNAP program in Guatemala?
What a jackass. Of course, given that food stamps generally don’t provide enough food for the entire month, most people on food stamps don’t buy those kind of high priced foods, but maybe they sometimes splurge for special occasions such as birthdays or holidays. Given that the majority of people on food stamps are also working, and many are military families, or elderly -I really don’t understand this rich, narcissistic, self-righteous, and ignorant fools point of view.
In 2013 40% of SNAP recipients did not work.
———————————————————————————————-
Washington Times-2011
Enrollment in the food stamp program — officially the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program — has soared by 70 percent in the years since President Obama first took office, a new report finds.
Why should anyone be denied steaks and lobster, spas and heated stones, yachts and jets, just because they don’t earn enough?
We’re a rich country, there’s lots of 1%ers to take the money from.
I suggest that those of you who are so worried about what people are eating on public subsistence come to any hospital emergency waiting room and see the results of eating what you can afford. The demonstrative unhealthy food that is “affordable” results in healthcare costs that are being passed onto everyone. The real crime here is not the food people spend their money on, but the offal that the food industry is allowed to foist upon us in the guise of “food”.
Makes sense. Living on welfare is not supposed to be a permanent status. Nor is it supposed to finance champagne and lobster dinners.
As to the comment from sgsmith, it’s a myth that low cost food is unhealthy. The healthiest food is also the least expensive. Buy one bag each of rice, beans, potatos, apples, carrots and onions and live well and healthily for a week.
As a bonus you avoid all the bad things for you which are also expensive: meat, cheese, processed foods, etc.
What’s missing is education.
bslap is correct. Education is missing. What did we get for our money, and better yet why is it missing?
https://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=66
Food stamp fraud?
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/polygamous-sect-leaders-facing-food-stamp-fraud-charges-37155709
I don’t understand the process here. Are stores giving the law breakers cash? If so, shouldn’t they be indicted also?
Flashback time to when I was on food stamps many years ago. What people who pass judgement when they look at others in the grocery line don’t realize is that you aren’t seeing the whole picture. Day in and day out my young daughter and I did all the things to help ourselves economically and nutritionally. Potatoes with veggies, rice with beans, iceberg lettuce (the cheapest) and lots of homemade soup. Then, that rare day comes, it’s your birthday and someone sends you a check…you can buy that nice shampoo and this one time buy a steak! Lo and behold a neighbor loans you his Cadillac to go shopping instead of taking the bus as usual. But, there YOU are…staring at me with my food stamps and watching me go out to the car…passing judgement on that one day, that one time, that one steak. I hated being on food stamps and to this day, 30 years later and financially secure, I still remember the disgust and prejudice from ignorant know-it-alls. And, that goes for the high and mighty xenophobic Old Pueblo Vet.
If someone sent you a check…use your own money.It was meant to be inadequate so that you would motivate yourself out of that situation.
There are multiple issues at play here. First, people who use SNAP benefits make the same food-buying decisions as we all do, and should not be discriminated against because they need temporary help affording their groceries. Second, allowing the government to designate foods as “good” and “bad” is problematic. Such a policy shift would create a food code more complicated and arbitrary than the tax code. It also would put us on a slippery slope of government intrusion into many decisions that have been always left to the individual to decide.
Food stamps is meant to help you if you cannot afford to buy food. It was not designed to aid you in purchasing the food you would like to eat, ie sugared/processed foods. This system is abused to a high degree. People sell their cards and then claimed the cards were lost, which entitles them to replacement. They buy expensive items and sell them for drug money. They use the card for sugared sodas and ice cream and a weekend cookout, and then complain they have nothing to feed their kids. All of this is abuse of a system that was designed to keep people from starving and nothing else. It’s time for an overhaul, and if WIC can control what foods are purchased, then there should be no problem and no issue with food stamp use being restricted to essential, basic items — no sugar, no preprocessed, no lobster/steak/ribs — especially in a country where we are facing an obesity/diabetes epidemic.
“And, that goes for the high and mighty xenophobic Old Pueblo Vet.”
Nice buzzword there drone, did you get any good boy points for that social signalling?
“Given that the majority of people on food stamps are also working, and many are military families, or elderly -I really don’t understand this rich, narcissistic, self-righteous, and ignorant fools point of view.”
Maybe if you visited a Food City instead of Whole Foods, you would see reality.
Remember my little liberal friends, I was once ignorant like you. You can’t shame me, you can call me all the names you want, but I exist in reality.
Are you going to log off the internet forever in November 2016?
Trump 2016
Just the old conservative hall of shame by once again making the poor the villains. It is a practice they have perfected called SHAMING THE POOR. Some I bet even call themselves Christians. What a fallacy.
This is just another typical failed liberal program in which the only way to approach is to modify misguided benefits. The waste by the government has caused this backlash.
I’m not on food stamps, but I am a disabled veteran with a limited budget thanks to the way us veterans get the shaft by our government….What’s wrong with buying steak once in a while? They are many stores that have good sales on good cuts of meat… Sometimes the ” Manager Special” is a great deal…. Meat that is close to the past due date… I buy from that section alot. Why would anyone want to deprive someone from having a steak? Let people make their own choices. I agree that food stamps should only be temporary assistance for able bodied individuals, but controlling what they eat is wrong…. I also pay into the system that pays for food stamps and I say let them have a steak when they want
If the government would spend time treating the snap recipients as though they were rehabilitating them to a self sustaining life, meaning drug testing, holistic counseling and not only get jobs but actual careers in which they can thrive in these issues would change dramatically although I agree some recipients do abuse the system there is also some like myself who want to succeed in living a life where I can sustain myself and children to no longer need any of that. But sadly our government spends less on education/community and more on wars.
I bought a steak last week, not with SNAP but with my disability check. It was an $8.56 steak that went in sale for $5.56 and didn’t sell by Wednesday so it got marked down another 50% so it was $2.76 this bill would ban my kind of thrifty shopping. You can’t fix your ego by putting down those that need help, you can reveal who not to vote for.
As a Democrat, I have a novel idea. Restrict food stamps to WIC Approved Foods. Take a walk around any grocery store and you should quickly spot the labels on produce, rice, dried beans, lentils, and chickpeas. Then there is peanut butter, oatmeal, plain generic cheerios, flour, yeast, sugar, salt, and the ingredients for baking. WIC approves milk, goat’s milk, cheese, butter, orange juice, eggs, and more simple one-ingredient foods. Do this based on whether a client has the facilities to cook nutritious foods from scratch and promote that every way possible. Give out a cookbook and a covered skillet with each new card. Cut back on the amount given and that will incentivize people to learn to cook from scratch to extend their food budget. If they don’t like it, then that will incentivize people to work enough to earn their own money for food and will teach them excellent food budgeting skills for their own money. WIC–that’s the ticket!