Posted on 01/18/2017 7:36:41 PM PST by nickcarraway
UPDATE: Sheila Butt announced on Tuesday that she is withdrawing the bill. Read more about that here.
Tennessee, more than 1 million people depend on benefits from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program to put food on their tables. Rep. Shelia Butt, R-Columbia, introduced a bill that would stop people from using those benefits, know as SNAP or food stamps, to buy foods high in calories, sugar and fat.
Some people in our area think the bill is a good idea.
"Milk and food items is fine," said Alan Rogers. "That's what they're for. Just to sustain life. All this other stuff is extra stuff." Walter Little says he can see both sides.
"It's a two-way street," said Little. "It's a good idea health wise - but a lot of people don't want to be told what they should eat and what they shouldn't eat. I'm 69 years old. But I jog, I work out and I try to eat healthy. But this is my belief. And I would hate to force my ideas on someone else."
The bill says food "without any nutritional value" would be blocked. People would not be able to use their benefits for things like soda, ice cream, cookies, candy and cake.
Rep. Butt also proposes establishing a list of banned foods that would be made with help from the Department of Heath and Human Services using recommendations from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
"All the public pays for food stamps and I think there ought to be rules on it," said Rogers. "There has to be. It just can't be wide open."
If the bill becomes a law, it will take effect in July.
I haven’t used as much of it as I should have but Kool-Aid was 10 cents a package on sale. Now they go for 12.5 cents each (8 for a $1).
And I used 1/2 of the sugar they recommend. It’s a good substitute for me when I don’t need the caffeine. The local store runs 4 or 5 12-packs of store-brand pop for $10. I usually stock up with double that for backup.
“have no problem with ice cream and cokes. They are cheap.
I would have a problem with someone buying $200 worth of steaks (which I personally witnessed) or other luxury foods.”
While using 4 different EBT cards to pay for them.
I’ve seen that, too.
Soda, energy drinks, cookies, chips, candy, kool aid, box drinks, are not FOOD. They should not be on the food stamp purchase list. Should be more like WIC specific nutritious items. And coupons can be use to cut cost and make the food stamp dollars go further.
When my dad was out of work, there were no food stamps, just commodities, cheese, powdered milk, peanut butter, canned fruit and veggies, rice, beans, some times a bag of potatoes.
We still have a form of that at our local community center, but it’s mainly canned fruits and veggies now. And three times as many seniors today than there were 8 yrs ago. They don’t qualify for food stamps. Might be 2 weeks worth of them. Not much more.
“We, as youngsters, would wait
in the car at night while she
raided an onion or corn field.”
That’s called stealing from a farmer and is nothing to be proud of. Sounds like she had an entitlement mentality, whether it was taking food stamps, stealing, or violating hunting laws.
Coca Cola and Pepsi will not allow that to happen.
Nowhere in my post is mentioned the
fact my mother was proud of what she did.
She raised 5 kids the best she could under the circumstances.
She hated being “under the governments thumb” and managed
to get her degree as a CPA and
escape the control.
This was back in the late 60’s. Attitudes were much different then. We lived in a very small town.
The farmers knew what was going on
as well as the local game warden.
He would drop off fresh road kill
and ask where the fish were biting.
She “abused” her food stamp usage
so we could obtain non-food items.
Kind of embarrassing to go to a
job interview with matted hair and
stinking. She never bought drugs
or alcohol.
When someone buys 50 lbs of
lobster using SNAP, it’s pretty
obvious it’s for monetary gain.
No, you never said she was proud of it but you sounded like you were. So that was why I made the comment I did.
Good for her to get out of it. That would’ve been a good thing to add to your story. That is a success story. Whereas those that stay on it indefinitely are the abusers. Those that make money off it, like you mentioned, are just plain criminals. The system was meant for people like your mother, however as the generations go on, people are less and less like her. Sadly.
We have enough for what we need but we don't buy a lot of luxuries.
If you are paying for your self then I don't care what people buy or eat. But if I am paying for it then they should not be buying luxuries.
Free government cheese — and peanut butter.
Of the 5; one with a PhD,
one owns two businesses,
a screenwriter, a mechanical
engineer, and the last
is on his way to becoming
a math professor.
I’m proud of her....
In about twelve hours,
we all can breath a big sigh
of relief.
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