Today the House of Representatives passed a bill that would cut the aid from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), more commonly known as food stamps, by roughly $40 billion dollars in the next decade. Although there is really no way this will pass the majority Democrat Senate, it does raise the question of "Do we really need this many people on food stamps?" The supporters of this bill suggest that they are only closing loopholes and restricting people who should not get help anyways, but this seems to be unfair. Currently, there are about 48 million people that utilize food stamps, a number that has been generally increasing since their creation (Look at graph above). Those people who "shouldn't" be receiving food stamps constitute a large enough number to where this cut will definitely make a difference.
Are people taking advantage of the system or is hunger in America really as widespread as the numbers suggest? If it is really such a big problem then why are so many people unwilling to acknowledge it? And on the off-chance that people actually need the food stamps, having millions more people starve is not going to look good for this bill, or for the people that passed it for that matter. It seems like way too big of a risk for me, what do you think?
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5 comments:
While many Americans write hunger off as an issue isolated to developing countries, it’s important to remember that it is just as much a crisis within the United States as it is globally. That being said, a federal food stamp program that serves a reported 47.7 million people is likely going to contain flaws, whether they be in regards to regulation or costs. HR 3102 is an extremely complex bill, and from my preliminary survey of it, I can’t say with absolute certainty whether or not I support it in its entirety. However, there are many points worth our attention, one of which concerns medical marijuana.
Section 106 states that medical marijuana shall be excluded from excess medical expense deductions. I wholeheartedly agree with this portion of the bill, and I think it points out that there are some inherent flaws in the current Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) provisions. Regardless of medical marijuana’s legality, substances of a controversial nature should not be paid for with funds allocated to feed the impoverished.
Here is the link to HR 3102:
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/113/hr3102/text
Even as both options (keeping things the way they are or passing such a bill) are flawed, I feel that the possibility that a considerable amount of people may not be able to receive the aid they need with the proposed cut of $39 billion is too large a risk to take.
Unfortunately, though, at the same time, I have heard of some instances where people have received aid they didn't need; I know of quite a few elderly people who receive assistance in the form of brown bags (http://www.shfb.org/brownbag) and subsidized lunch meals at a senior center. And although the aid certainly helps, they often knowingly take more than they need, so much so that they end up giving away groceries to my parents or other friends. I think they have the mindset that they might as well take in excess while it's free, without considering that they are unnecessarily taking money from the government (that does add up).
Elkana, I think that your point about people taking advantage of the free food from the government is valid. I have also seen this through work delivering food to the elderly that were supposed to be in need, when in reality, they probably did not need it. I totally agree that, while some people will always take advantage of assistance, that does not mean the government can cut that many people off of food stamps. The risk of taking food from people, especially children, is too great. Where can the government draw that line so that the people receiving aid actually need it. Is this possible?
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