Copyright dailycaller
For the 14th time, Republicans voted to reopen the government. Dems voted not to. So SNAP, EBT cards (aka Food Stamps if you’re over 50), will be cut in half. Trump (or Schumer, unintentionally) has forced us to do something we have needed to do for years: understand why 42 million of us are on food stamps. The SNAP program, originally introduced in 1939 and “reimagined” in the 1990s, seeks to alleviate hunger by providing electronic funds to an EBT card that is used to buy food items approved by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). For the kids out there, it’s like Venmo, but for groceries. Your “friend” is the federal government, not your parent. Let me say upfront that no one wants any American citizen to go hungry. We work hard to pay taxes to create a safety net for our less fortunate who have fallen on hard times. But in some cases, the safety net has become a safety hammock. (RELATED: Trump States SNAP Will Only Be Funded Once Democrats Help End Shutdown) Most of us believe that Americans should have the freedom to choose what they eat — and the responsibility to figure out how to pay for it. When they cannot, and for that temporary time period, most Americans are happy to help. Local food banks do a great job of levering SNAP dollars. Local control is efficient. In terms Democrats can understand, we do not want to cut SNAP. We want to reimagine it. SNAP will be replaced by a program called “Getting a Job,” for those who can. Taxpayers spend $100 billion each year on SNAP, with $7 billion of that going to administrative costs. There are 114 million of us who pay federal taxes in the USA. That is about $900 dollars per taxpayer for others to get free food. That does not count HUD, WIC and Medicaid/Obamacare these folks likely also count on. Per Adam Corolla in his show with Dr. Drew, the average female SNAP recipient weighs over 200 pounds. The average woman not on SNAP, 145. Oh SNAP!, we are getting our money’s worth here. I am not sure if they all deserve EBT cards, but this surely looks like a good time to take stock of the program to ensure that those who really need it are getting it. Ours is the only country in the world where overweight folks, who do not work, check their $1000 smart phone to check their EBT stamp balances. And now they are mad. This is the definition of entitlement. We are also a country that provides empty carb food stamps. We might well also pay our SNAP recipients Ozempic. Bobby Kennedy wants to continue to look at SNAP to make sure money is not spent on sugary breakfast food, and examining the decay of the family and why poor families have to go on perpetual government assistance. He should label the project “Snap, Crackle and no Pop.” Michelle Obama tried to get the country thinking about health and growing our own food. I tried planting Pop-Tarts under her program. Nothing. We need to make sure those who are truly hungry get food. Some on the far right would not agree; they might prefer that we replace food stamps with inspirational quotes. Reality lies between. There are positives in this. I like to see the grocery cart half full. We are forced to take a hard look at the program to make it better. If we can make improvements, more people will be able to fit in their Spirit airplane seat from Atlanta to Detroit. And if they keep losing weight, they might feel fit and confident enough to vote Republican. (RELATED: Trump Instructs Feds To Find Ways To Continue Providing SNAP) And many will get to know, and hopefully get involved, in their local food banks. Charity begins at home. And that is where it is best administered, not from the Swamp in D.C. Those of us who believe in lower taxes, less federal government and local responsibility need to step up here. Few objects in contemporary American life embody the paradox of capitalism quite like the EBT card. It is simultaneously a lifeline and a social Rorschach test — a plastic rectangle that reveals as much about national values as it does about one’s preference for Cool Ranch Doritos and Pepsi. Under the “Big Beautiful Bill,” Trump increased work requirements for EBT benefits. Dems in Congress won’t risk the scrutiny. Getting SNAP food stamps given to you for just sitting around and not doing anything is way too similar to them getting $175,000 a year to just sit in Congress. A libertarian op-ed humorist and award-winning author, Ron does commentary on radio and TV. He can be contacted at Ron@RonaldHart.com or @RonaldHart on Twitter.
