Shockingly, this headline is from Politico and not the Onion: “Trump Pitches Plan to Replace Food Stamps with Food Boxes.”
Trump, it seems, has a big vision for reforming the SNAP program, also known as food stamps, which allows 42 million Americans, low-income families, seniors, and people with disabilities, to purchase some food items from grocery stores, farmers markets, convenience stores, etc. From Politico:
White House OMB Director Mick Mulvaney on Monday hailed the idea as one that kept up with the modern era, calling it a “Blue Apron-type program” — a nod to the high-end meal kit delivery company that had one of the worst stock debuts in 2017 and has struggled to hold onto customers. Mulvaney said the administration’s plan would not only save the government money, but also provide people with more nutritious food than they have now.
The proposal, buried in the White House’s fiscal 2019 budget, would replace about half of the money most families receive via the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, also known as food stamps, with what the Department of Agriculture is calling “America’s Harvest Box.” That package would be made up of “100 percent U.S. grown and produced food” and would include items like shelf-stable milk, peanut butter, canned fruits and meats, and cereal.
But America’s Harvest Box, which USDA contends would save over $129 billion over 10 years, is not very comparable to startup meal-delivery companies like Blue Apron. For one, the Trump administration’s proposal doesn’t include fresh items, like produce or meat, which are the core of Blue Apron and its competitors. Such products perish quickly and are incredibly expensive to ship. …
Numerous questions remain, such as how these boxes would be customized for, say, a family that has a child with nut allergies — or for those who don’t eat certain types of meat out of religious or personal reasons. The proposal was so out of left field that some anti-hunger advocates initially thought it was a joke.
And yet, here we are, with a proposal that would do away with consumer choice and require SNAP beneficiaries to take the government SPAM or whatever else they decide you need. Isn’t the GOP supposed to be the party of small government? The only thing more invasive than mandating menus is mandating child birth, but, of course, they’re fine with that, too.
This isn’t a huge surprise. Conservatives have long hated food stamps, probably because they’ve long hated poor people. And you have to be pretty damn poor to even qualify: In Washington state, for instance, a family of four must have a pre-tax income of $31,980 annually or less. The median household income in Seattle, meanwhile, is over $80,000. Under Trump’s proposal, those who do receive over $90 a month in benefits would be required to pay for these government food boxes out of that and could spend the remaining balance at the grocery store.
As Vox pointed out, the average SNAP beneficiary receives about $1.40 per meal, and that includes the 20 million low-income children currently enrolled in the program.
Thank god Trump is finally doing something about those greedy children.
