Republican State Senator Patty Ritchie of New York introduced a bill that would prohibit food stamp recipients from using their benefits to buy lobster, steak, and candy bars.
“Many of these items aren’t just unhealthy,” Ritchie said in a statement about her proposal, “they’re also expensive.”
New York state’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) already forbids food stamp recipients from making non-food purchases for alcohol and tobacco products.
Ritchie wants to expand the current law to cover what she calls “luxury food items,” like cakes and energy drinks.
Currently, federal law prohibits states from regulating SNAP benefits.
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19 comments:
about darn time!
Maryland needs to Ban also.
Food Stamp recipients can go into
Seafood shops and buy a bushel of Crabs,
Lobster, Scallops, whatever they want
in Maryland.
With food prices as they are and the drastic cuts in benefits (I know two people who get less than $20/month), I don't see food stamp recipients buying a lot of steak, lobster or candy bars.
I understand what you are saying and what you may think Queensgirl52 but some do it. When the benefits run out then they hit up food pantries or do that in between so they can buy steak, lobster or a bushel of crabs like stated above with their cards.
I personally hate the first two weeks of the month when people get their EBT benefits. .I see them stocking up on lots of items that I plan/budget for.
I don't get why they are allowed such luxuries. . something needs to be done similar to the WIC programs only certain allowable stuff.
I don't mind the occasional candy bar or bag of candy especially when they have a diabetic child or they want the occasional burst of sugar.
If they want to eat "high on the hog" they should have to work to pay for it.
It pisses me off to see elderly people (and veterans) in the grocery store and they have to make choices between food and medicine because the department of social services will only give them $20 per month. But yet they have worked and paid into this system all of their life and can barely get any benefits from it but yet you have able bodies women and men who can get hundreds of dollars a month in food stamps.
I have definitely "paid it forward" and bought groceries for some people who I know don't have enough or have seen them have to put items back just to make sure they can pay for what they have in their cart. I don't mind helping because I would hope that one day if I was in that situation that someone would help me.
The system is totally broken and needs a new overhaul immediately.
Why don't you all mind your own business?
12:30 Maybe it is my business since my tax dollars are paying for this.
it is the business of all tax payers, that means all people that work so their money can be given to those that DON'T work. Get a job.
12:30PM You are on Food Stamps aren't you?
agreed 12:41
I think the 'fight against hunger' would be a lot more effective and efficient if food pantries with government-provided FOOD were set up around the country, where people who need food could go to get it.
Not cellphones. Not cable tv. Not videos. No cigarettes or Colt 45.
FOOD.
Basic stuff like rice, beans, flour, sugar, salt, potatoes, onions, etc. Canned goods. And stuff like toilet paper. Laundry soap, bar soap, toothpaste. You know-- the basic stuff people need.
You say "oh, that would cost too much to run an organization like that."
Well, if you consider how much we are losing to fraud, I'd say it would turn out to be a major bargain.
12:30 It is my business because I'm paying for it and can't afford those items. Seems as you need an attitude adjustment.
Queensgirl 1206 got it right....There are people with benefits of $500 a month or more that either indulge in expensive foods or "sell" their cards for cash,only to hit up all the churches on free food days.That is wrong.Soup kitchens are a lifeline for people on the streets or without SNAP.
Being poor SHOULD be hard. It SHOULD be difficult. AND, it should be "short-term".
Being poor (and I know what it means) is something you want to NOT be, but now, we make it a "lifestyle" that can last for GENERATIONS.
Being hungry and cold is a great incentive to NOT be hungry and cold.
It USED to be that way.
People who worked their whole LIFE have to choose between the electric bill and food.
People who have NEVER worked choose between lobster and steak.
There's something wrong with that picture.
My son and I had the need a few years ago to be on food stamps. Thanks to my business getting better, EBT was no longer needed,however, I found with my frugal shopping habits ingrained in me, I found it impossible to spend all the $ that I was "entitled" to. At one point, there was over $600 stacked up in the EBT account! I asked if I could return the credit, but was told that there was no real venue for that.
I HAD to spend the EBT money! So, I treated us to crab, lobster, and top dollar steak for a while.
Burger, sketti, chicken, and pork chops just can't keep up with EBT $. Maybe that's why they are all so FAT!
Thank God, those days are over and I am back on my feet!
"Anonymous said...
Why don't you all mind your own business?
February 26, 2016 at 12:30 PM"
No we won't mind our own business because it is our business. when you are dependent on the government you are a slave and you are owned by us the tax payers so anything and everything you do is our business and don't you slaves ever forget it.
They sell the box or bag of food they get from the pantries too! $5 for like 20 bucks worth of food. At some of the area neighborhood church pantries in Baltimore you have to sign up and the different churches compare names because they were hitting them all up and selling the food. Now you can only get from 1 church. They know all the angles except how to work an honest day's work.
never been on food stamps. Worked hard all my life.Paid taxes. Have always had enough to eat.Have never paid attention to what other people are eating or what they are paying with and proud of it.
.Have never paid attention to what other people are eating or what they are paying with and proud of it.
February 26, 2016 at 8:05 PM
me either and have no desire to. and I don't think many even know the real truth of what they are saying. they sound like a bunch of jealous socialists. They can't get it so no one else should. everybody get the same. that is socialism.
if you wanna bitch about taxes, go to the agencies that dole out the 'freebies' instead of whining about the people who use them. just sitting around bitching won't get anything done, if anything needs to be done.
if you see someone with an ebt card or whatever, you don't know if it is theirs, a family members, a friends or if they bought it from someone. you just look at a situation and form opinions based on your limited knowledge of the facts and your own bias', hatred and jealousies.
you should be more worried about the trillions of taxpayer monies that are wasted on weapons of war, freebies to other countries and its citizens and other gov't waste and fraud instead of what someone is or is not eating.
Jealousy and hate is what it is really about, not some bs about taxes. In 2012, the average American taxpayer making $50,000 per year paid just $36 towards the food stamps program.
That's just ten cents a day!
That's less than the cost of a gumball.
The US gov't spends about 80 billion on food stamps a year. ( and continues to slash them each year ) 80 billion equals 20 B2 bombers. Would you rather people eat or get bombed?
Most of you don't even know what or why you are complaining about.
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