I suspect some furloughed employee sabotaged the system.
Something, however, is intentionally fouling things up. If nothing else, a quick phone call to some food banks or even the Red Cross and there could be days worth of food available, as food, not stamps. Anything more than days and the county could request that the regional federal food storage (think Reagan cheese) could be opened, no problem. All it would take is a phone call to the State USDA office.
So the question becomes, why are they *not* making these phone calls?
Food stamps are unlike any other form of welfare, for several reasons. The first is that they actually *save* the government money because a perpetual agricultural problem in the US is too much food, that the federal government buys, then *expensively* warehouses until it rots.
The second is that food, unlike money, is a crappy motivator to encourage people to get off welfare. Without food, people spend all their time looking for food, not looking for work. Until the school food program was created, many children could barely function in school, much less learn. School lunch was their big meal of the day.
So the bottom line is that, if you can’t give them credit on their food debit card, then give them food itself. Georgia is awash with food, so there is no, zero reason for anybody to do without.
Cut back on their other welfare, fine. Money is a great motivator to encourage people to work. Workfare was a huge success. But not food.
They don’t want the food from the food bank. What would they do with cheese, beans, and rice?
They want their card so they can buy soda and hot dogs from the corner store.
The child in the video did not look hungry. Mom said he hadn’t eaten since breakfast. It looked like early afternoon in the video! Also, are there cupboards that empty with 1,000 dollar a month credit for food. Seems to me they would have a stock pile for emergencies.