Posted on 05/14/2010 5:55:37 AM PDT by TornadoAlley3
WASHINGTON — Rep. Collin Peterson on Thursday suggested Congress consider banning caloric soft drinks from being purchased with food stamps as a way to address obesity.
According to multiple reports, Peterson said the proposed ban is "clearly is something we need to look at," though he added that he neither supports nor opposes the suggestion at this point.
Peterson's comments followed a House Agriculture Committee meeting, in which a panelist suggested the embargo. The hearing was one of many Peterson is holding as an early preview of the 2012 Farm Bill, which includes the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
The exact suggestion Peterson was responding to, as reported by Reuters' Charles Abbott:
Wellesley College professor and food expert Rob Paarlberg suggested the ban during a hearing to review the 2008 farm law, which includes food stamps as well as crop subsidies. Food stamps help low-income people buy food. One in eight Americans receives food stamps.
The anti-hunger program accounts for 40 percent of Agriculture Department spending and outweighs crop subsidy and land stewardship spending of $10 billion this year.
"I would argue caloric soda should be made ineligible for purchase under SNAP, like tobacco and alcohol," said Paarlberg, using the new name for food stamps, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. He later said sugary sodas are "a huge part of the obesity problem."
Now that is an idea worth considering. I often see food stamps buying more soda than I can afford.
HA! Like to see ‘em try! This Congress appears to fear the people in no way (except of course an angry mob of Pepsi or Mountain Dew-deprived welfare recipients rioting in the streets!)
Should just go back to “free food” handouts. Direct distribution of foodstuffs. Worked great for us when my father lost his job back in the early ‘60s.
not to mention...what about our vaunted Ethanol Lobby of Corn Farmers and Grain Belt Congresscritters? You start shutting down demand for HFCS and there is gonna be HELL to PAY!
Is that on Michelle Obummers list for Obesity! It should be. Soda is nothing but wasted calories and should be banned from food stamp as should twinkies.
I assumed it already wasn’t allowed. Does this mean that food stamps can be used to purchase chips, ice cream and candy, too? Good grief.
Where will it stop? No cereal? No boxed or canned foods? Fresh fruit, veggies and bagged beans only?
Food police
Yup. They are considered food items.
Well if that’s a good idea, here’s a better one:
1 fresh and dried fruit, and nuts
2 fresh veggies
3 unprocessed, packaged fresh or frozen meats
4 loaves of fresh bread
Nothing else.
If you are on welfare getting food stamps then tough titty said the kitty. Get a frigging job, then you can purchase whatever you want.
You have to have worked in a grocery store at some point to believe it. You can generally spot a Food Stamp recipient even before they open their purse, because the cart is overflowing with pop, Twinkies, Ding-Dongs, Ho-Ho’s, potato chips, etc. That and every cut of meat which people who actually work for a living can’t afford. Not a tomato or a head of lettuce to be found anywhere. If you manage a store one of your challenges is to get your cashiers to stop making snyde remarks in front of such (and I use this term loosely....) customers.
That being said, I am not in favor of a Federal Food Police.
That’s the insidious nature of having someone else in charge of paying for your “needs”...
not only do THEY get to control what you can have,
it makes people like you and me tend to justify that control
because we don’t approve of what it’s being spent on.
Same with healthcare control.
NO. ..just get the Gov out of the 'food line'. These kind of 'good intentions' lead to hell. We know that.
I actually have no problem with gov’t restrictions on things when the money is coming from the public coffers. If people are going to insist on having other people support them, they should accept whatever guidelines are imposed upon them. Might make welfare and other gov’t programs less attractive.
And no, I don’t condemn anyone who has to accept public aid on a temporary basis, to get them through a rough patch. But if you make it too easy and comfortable, it becomes a lifestyle.
yes
And guess what...milk has calories, too.
I’d like to see soda banned from food stamps but for a completely different reason. Take away soda, sweets, salt, potato chip type snacks etc. Piss these leaches off and see if any decide to work for a paycheck!
2 Thess 3:10.
A Christian precept, and therefore, to be rejected in "post-Christian" America.
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