In the United States, we pride ourselves on supplying our country with an abundance of food. From the West to the East Coast, fresh food is available in all grocery stores for the consumer. For many, there is no choice because money is low.
I used to believe this country put great effort in preventing anybody from going without a meal. President Trump’s proposed plan for food stamp recipients is challenging this. The Trump administration proposes to save money by taking away half of recipients’ benefits and replace them with a government-selected box of food.
The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program currently helps people with low incomes have a certain allowance per month to buy food of their choice, according to the New York Times.
The United States Department of Agriculture regulates what one can buy with SNAP benefits. The choices are fruits, vegetables, breads, cereals, meat, dairy and seeds. The USDA does not allow people to purchase liquor, beer, cigarettes, soaps, household supplies, hot foods or pet food with SNAP benefits.
There is a misconception that people use SNAP benefits mostly for junk food because it stretches their allowance further. In actuality, the USDA does not allow anyone to purchase junk food, including soft drinks, candy and cookies, with SNAP. According to NBC, the government’s current program gives food stamp recipient a payment card to buy the food.
The Trump administration’s plan would mean less access to fresh food. According to the SF Chronicle, half of the benefits people receive would come in the form of a box of non-perishable food, including cheap, government selected items such as peanut butter, beans, pasta and canned food. There would be no fresh fruit, vegetables, or meat under this plan.
Representative Jim McGowan, a Democrat from Massachusetts told NBC News, “This sounds like something from the Great Depression, not 2018.”
The government would save money by buying in bulk. The government would choose the food, not the recipients. This proposed plan raises more questions than answers. There are no answers regarding how recipients will carry the heavy box home or how the food selection will be adjusted for recipients with allergies.
This plan doesn’t sound well thought out at all. The plan doesn’t even answer who will box and distribute the food. It seems easier and more efficient to just send the money to recipients. Many people in support of the plan, including Mick Mulvaney, director of the office of management and budget, said this program is a way to cut fraud. According to the SF Chronicle, the fraud rate for SNAP is less than 1 percent. The proposed plan seems more complicated and less helpful than the current plan for SNAP. It is not the time to cut costs by reducing food’s quality.
Regardless of what the current administration believes, most recipients of SNAP are people who have jobs but don’t make enough to feed their families or disabled people who can’t work.
The current administration prides themselves in giving the American people what they want, yet they are proposing a plan where the government decides and controls what some people get to eat. This plan isn’t planned well at all; it’s more complicated and less helpful.
Hopefully, there’s no chance of it happening soon. Cutting the food’s quality will only hurt the people that need it to raise themselves up. Low-income Americans are not second class citizens and should have the same quality of food as everyone else.
