Yet critics of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) say the anti-hunger program is easily abused, and the latest questions about the program are stirring a hornet’s nest of debate. One hot-button issue: Should food-stamp recipients be banned from buying soda and candy?
House lawmakers on Thursday heard experts discuss the issue in what appeared to be a fact-finding mission, as the House Agriculture Committee said it wanted to hear the “pros and cons.”
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The program was established to NOURISH children. Candy and soda were never part of good nutriton in our house then or now
ReplyDeleteHey I have seen people purchase a bushel of crabs and pay $1.00 to steam them. The program is way out of whack. Used to be it was food that needed to be cooked. There were beans, rice, cheese etc. We need to get back basic.
ReplyDeleteExactly 7:39, I agree, since when are candy and soda nutritious? They should absolutely be banned.
ReplyDeleteThis issue always fires me up. Go back to government cheese and a loaf of bread.
ReplyDelete7:50 and maybe a jar of peanut butter. And get a job. There are several jobs in this county they need to get one. Might not be what you want to do or the pay you want. You gotta start somewhere.
ReplyDeleteIt makes no difference what is allowed to be purchased...go to Church St. in Salisbury and on any given day you can get the card allowed products swapped for cash! That is how they buy cigarettes, beer and drugs!!!
ReplyDeleteYou all make good points but let's not forget there are some that actually do need the assistance and do not work the system. Don't be so quick to just stereotype and throw everyone who has snap in the same category. Yes it does make me mad to see people abuse the system but not everyone abuses it. For a select few the struggle is real. For some they have legit health issues and circumstances that they require temporary assistance.
ReplyDeleteDUH!
ReplyDelete9:17
ReplyDeleteBet there is more fraud than legit. Glad you used the key word "temporary"
9:17, there is fraud and abuse in every government assistance program. You're right, a majority of SNAP users probably maximize their benefit. But, just about person has witnessed abuse, like purchasing high priced foods, like crabs, lobster (ive witnessed it on many occasions) and then buy other non-essentials with cash, like cigarettes or lottery tickets.
ReplyDeleteEach state should have a panel of nutritionists who approve every single item allowable for SNAP users. Suppliers would have the right to appeal, but there has to be a cost/nutrition ratio within a certain parameter in order to make this program sustainable and more effective.
As taxpayers, we deserve the right to say how our dollars are spent.
There are many things our tax dollars are spent on that we don't see. I'd rather pay for someone's food than pay my tax dollars to give aid to foreign countries, but I have little choice in that matter.
DeleteI say each county have a certain number of free food & clothing stores. The number would be based on population and need. The county would provide transportation and daycare (while working at the store)to anyone using or working at them. Anyone receiving the ge idiots would be required to work at least one day at the store.
ReplyDeleteOf course! If anyone says NO then they are on food stamps... and fat.
ReplyDeleteRice, beans and water.
ReplyDeleteskipjacks would go out of business without snap cards. btw, snap stands for seafood - nap
ReplyDeleteI agree that the system is out of control. SNAP recipients eat better than I do and frankly have no incentive to work. Why should they; housing paid for, phones paid for, healthcare paid for, food paid for. They then use other assistance to drive top of the line SUVs. talk about the good life. Work only pays minimum wage for the folks who barely read and write. Let them have the soda and candy or be labeled racist and elitist. Assistance has long since lost the connotation of "temporary".
ReplyDeleteYes, apart.
ReplyDeleteAnd stop them from going to fast food restaurants or any restaurants for that matter. This needs to stop. Generation after generation of the same family on welfare???? No, that's not going to go. Make them work for what they get. Any kind of work. Clean the streets, cut the working peoples grass, dig ditches, anything. No work, no benefits.
ReplyDelete