Trump Admin Announces Massive Plan to REPLACE Food
Stamps by Cillian Zeal 2/14/18
A new plan from the Trump administration could
replace food stamps for good with something that his critics should have a hard
time opposing: Actual food going to people who need it.
According to Fox
Business, part of the president’s 2019
budget proposal will be a program called “America’s Harvest Box,” run by
the Department of Agriculture.
“It would provide 16.4 million
households, about 81% of current food stamp recipients, with boxes of
non-perishable food items grown by U.S. farmers in place of some of their SNAP
aid,” Fox Business reported, using the acronym for the Supplemental
Nutrition Assistance Program, the official name for food stamps. The
reform would apply to households that receive more than $90 a month in
food stamp benefits, according to Politico.
The plan would deal with one of the
major criticisms of the SNAP program: the fact that recipients can spend their
food stamps on whatever foods they choose.
We’ve heard the horror stories about
lobster and filet mignon being purchased with SNAP credits,
but those are rare. The most worrying thing may be the most popular item purchased with food stamps: soda.
While conservatives generally aren’t in
favor of using government to regulate health outcomes in terms of what
foodstuffs people buy, when those foodstuffs are being bought with
government money, which is to say, our money,
citizens have every right to demand that items that provide limited nutritive
value while contributing to negative health externalities (which will likely
also cost government money) aren’t covered under the program.
And then there are the abuses of
the food stamp program, such as shop owners
illegally buying the credits from recipients for cash and then using the
credits to stock their stores. America’s Harvest Box would aim to
end, or at least curb, both of those abuses.
“Items that could be included in a
government-issued food box are grains, peanut butter, canned meat, canned
fruits and vegetables, juice and other shelf-stable products,” Fox Business
reported.
“The government would decide what to
include based on nutrition guidelines utilized for other, existing programs,
such as the Emergency Food Assistance Program, and the Food Distribution
Program on Indian Reservations.”
Estimates are that America’s Harvest Box
could save the government $129.2 billion over the next decade if implemented,
partially due to the fact that it could leverage its buying power for the 41
million individuals in SNAP as of November 2017, as opposed to those people buying
individually.
Whether or not the America’s Harvest Box
idea gains any traction remains to be seen. The White House’s budget
suggestions are just that — suggestions. Spending bills, including the yearly
budget, originate in Congress, which is often loath to cede its budget-making
purview to the White House even after the budget proposal is submitted.
That being said, America’s Harvest Box
is one of the most innovative proposals we’ve seen regarding entitlements in decades, probably since the
sweeping welfare reforms of the 1990s. Not only does it save money, it solves
many of the issues that have plagued the SNAP program in recent years.
And the best part — at least from the
GOP’s perspective — is that it puts the Democrats in the unenviable position of
arguing against fresh, healthy food and for a program rife with abuse. And
argue they no doubt will, should America’s Harvest Box make it to the floor.
Naturally, the media will take the Democrat side, as this preemptive New York Times strike shows. (Fair and balanced
headline: “Trump’s ‘Harvest Box’ Isn’t Viable in SNAP Overhaul, Officials
Say.”)
Comments
This is a good move. Actual multiple home food delivery
services are on the rise. This will prevent fraud and streamline the “prevent
starvation” process. The food items outlined above are standard and this should
set up an account where food allergies can be noted and avoided.
Norb
Leahy, Dunwoody GA Tea Party Leader
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